
'"^^^ 










■#%>. -^^o* 






^ .^ 




^«^' ^^ ^ <^^ . 



OLD 

MINE, 

ROAD 



^/. 



^^« 

wP 



'H 









V 



FjToNCRIO" 



V4CC0RP 



rMy/e 









pORTCtfNTON 



THCAMNE HOLfi* 



HIN£ 

1908 



HISTORY AND LEGEND 



FACT, FANCY AND ROMANCE 



of the 



OLD MINE ROAD 



KINGSTON, N.Y. 



to the 



MINE HOLES OF PAHAQUARRY 



" The Minisink trail ran from the Hudson, via Marbletown, Rochester, 
Wawarsing, Wurtsborough, Port Jervis, and the Delaware nearly to the 
Water Gap." Even as we shall run. 



HINE'S ANNUAL 



^\1-1 



u-'^ 



\^^ 



COPYRIGHT, 1909 

BT 

C. G. HIKE 



f;!. ;. 2 4 '1 7 7 7 
AUi 5 1909 



A FEW FIRST WORDS. 

Like the butterfly on the flower-strewn plain, the traveler 
on foot can laugh at fences or ditches and flit from interest 
to interest, taking no thought for the highway. Be it a pano- 
rama from some hilltop or an old family burial ground in the 
remote corner of a pasture lot, it is but the storming of a few 
rails or a bit of barbed wire and a brief walk amid the field 
flowers, or between rows of growing corn. Hence no excuse 
is offered for taking this trip on foot ; rather do we commend 
ourself for having selected the best method of travel for the 
purpose. 

It is quite out of the question for the ordinary pen to 
adequately depict or praise the beauties of such a region as is 
traversed by our Old Mine Road. A region of mountains and 
valleys, brooks and waterfalls, country that yields a rich re- 
turn to the farmer or that is still wild with heaped rock 
masses, all embroidered with exquisite patterns of mountain 
and stream and meadowland. All this aside from the richness 
of its history, its legend and romance. 

To be one with such pleasures for a week or more, with no 
care but to sip from the next cup when the present has sated, 
to make the few gracious friendships that are part of the ex- 
perience, to carry home for the long Winter evenings the 
memory of it all, makes the traveler feel that he has been 
favored of the gods and has much to be thankful for. 

Neither words nor pictures can tell the full story of such a 
trip as this for, as with Hamlet, the region has "that within 



IV. THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

which passeth show". One must both see and feel it, have 
been of it, as only the humble wayfarer can be of it, have 
stepped from the dusty roadway to the softness of the cool, 
lush grass, or stood sheltered within the covered bridge while 
the sudden mountain storm rages down from the heights, and 
then to step out into the freshness and be part of the gorgeous 
rolling away of the tattered curtain: ah! tnat indeed is joy 
unspeakable : — 

"To one who has been long in city pent 
'T is very sweet to look into the fair 
And open face of Heaven, — to breathe a prayer 
Full in the smile of the blue firmament." 

— John Keats. 

The facts herein set forth have been freely taken from the 
writings of those learned in the subject and the lips of those 
willing to impart information. The fiction is largely due to 
the author's inability to grasp the truth. But an effort has 
been made to avoid anything approaching dryness — anyone 
who has exercised much knows how easy it is to get dry, and 
how uncomfortable. 

It is but fair to acknowledge my indebtedness to 
Mr. Benjamin M. Brink of Kingston, Dr. George W. 
Nash of Hurley, Mr John James Schoonmaker of Accord, 
Mr. David Crist of Wawarsing, Messrs. Demmon Reynolds, 
Edward Vernoy and Isaiah Rose of Naponoch, Messrs. Thos. 
H. Benedict, Alfred Ronk, Mr. Taylor and Miss E. H. Gray of 
EUenville, Mrs. Harriet G. Brodhead beyond the Leurenkill, 
Mr. Levi Cuddeback of Cuddebackville, Professor Dolf and 
Messrs. W. H. Nearpass and Thomas J. Bonnell of Port Jer- 
vis, Mr. D. H. Predmore of Brick House, and to many others 
on whom I made brief calls by the way. While, as usual, 



A FEW FIRST WORDS. V. 

thanks are due for the assistance rendered by those in charge of 
the library of the New York Historical Society, who have 
placed much that was curious at my disposal, and to those of 
the Newark Free Library, who have saved me many a weary 
search. 

"And I'll be sworn 't is true ; travellers ne'er did lie, 
Though fools at home condemn 'em." 
, — Tempest, III., 3. 



VI. A FEW FIRST WORDS. 



THE CALL OF THE SPRING. 
Alfred Noyes. 



So now come out of the city's rout, 

Come out of the dust and the din, 
Come out, — a bundle and stick is all 

You'll need to carry along, 
If your heart can carry a kindly word, 

And your lips can carry a song ; 
You may leave the lave to the keep o' the grave, 

If your lips can carry a song! 

Come, choose your road and away, my lad. 

Come, choose your road and away! 
We'll out of the town by the road's bright crown, 

As it dips to the sapphire day ! 
All roads may meet at the world's end. 

But, hey for the heart of May! 
Come, choose your road and away, dear lad, 

Come, choose your road and away. 

Come, choose your road and away, my lad. 
Come, choose your road and away! 

We'll out of the town by the road's bright crown, 
As it dips to the dazzling day. 

It's a long, white road for the weary ; 

But it rolls through the heart of the May. 



MOTIVE. 

In that issue of "Olde Ulster", which appeared for Febru- 
ary, 1907, was an article on "The Old Mine Road", which 
gathered together about all Mr. Brink thought worth record- 
ing which in any wise referred to the subject. With that 
gentleman's permission, I quote his article entire, then follow 
quotations and condensations from the Sullivan County his- 
tory, whose author has opinions of his own on the subject; 
these are again followed by such other matter as I have hap- 
pened on in my surface scratching. 

So much by way of introduction. "Olde Ulster" says:— 

"THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

"El Dorado, the region of gold, was the quest of centuries 
succeeding Columbus. Not only among the adventurers who 
flocked to the Spanish Main, but this was the dream of the 
colonists of Jamestown and Roanoke. And no sooner had 
Hudson's discovery revealed 'The River of the Mountaynes' 
than tales of crystal mountains and wonderful mines aroused 
adventurous spirits to locate them. The principal object for 
which the Dutch West India Company was incorporated was 
not the trade for furs along the Hudson but the capture of the 
richly laden Spanish fleets with their gold and silver. The 
trade in furs was but incidental at first. 

"The Dutch colonists in the Esopus were agriculturists. 
But among them there were a few restless and adventurous 



2 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

men who had been interested in the tales told from the first 
of almost fabulous mines in the interior. These were located 
as reported in the undefined 'Minisink country'. We will give, 
chronologically, the story of these reports and speak of the 
efforts to reach these mines which were situated, in all the 
accounts, on the Delaware River. 

"In the 'Journal of New Netherland' the first golden vision 
is found under date of 164 1. It is 

" 'In the interior are pretty high mountains, exhibiting gen- 
erally strong indications of minerals.* 

Four years later (August 31st, 1645,) the West India Com- 
pany determined to investigate. By this time a definite loca- 
tion is reported of the mine and it is fixed in the Raritan coun- 
try :- 

" 'Having received from savages some specimens of min- 
eral, which we think valuable, and being informed by the 
savages, that the mountain, from which they had brought the 
specimens, is situate inland near the Raretang, we have con- 
sidered it best, most advantageous and profitable for the W. 
I. Company to use all diligence to discover the said mine and 
when found and it is valuable, it is resolved to take possession 
thereof for the said Hon'ble Company and build a fort there.' 

"Something of exploration must have been done for in De- 
cember, 1646, it was reported that 

" 'The specimens of New Netherland minerals sent over 
have been examined but, we are told, no metal has been found 
in them ; we can nevertheless only deem it advisable to order 
the continuation of the search for minerals by your Honor, and 
wish to know what kind of metal and this from the innermost, 
that is the greatest depth, can be obtained; we desire also a 
description of the place where it is found.' 



MOTIVE, 3 

"For a few years nothing further appears. In 1657 Vice- 
Director Alrichs, writing of the colony on the Delaware 
River says: — 

" 'On this road or way is a good and rich iron mine. * * * 
situate or contained in a certain mountain near which is a 
cataract or waterfall on a river which runs past and close by 
the place, and is adapted to the turning of mills. This river 
likewise affords facilities for bringing away such substance in 
a boat.' 

"The directors in Holland wrote to Stuyvesant on April 
25th, 1659:— 

" 'We have lately been shown a small piece of mineral, 
v/hich is said to have come from New Netherland, and which 
we found to be good and pure copper, so that we have thought 
it worth while to hear Claes de Ruyter about it, a person who 
showed that he was not ignorant of it and consequently dem- 
onstrated, that a copper mine was said to be in the Nevesinks, 
also that there was lying between the Manhattans and South- 
river [Delaware River] a crystal mountain, of which he says 
he brought several specimens.' 

"Claes de Ruyter was not alone as a prospector. In the 
same letter we read : — 

"'Gerrit Jansen Kuyper and Abel de Wolf have also re- 
quested us that such lands and minerals may be granted to 
them (as we conceive situate near the Esopus Kil in and about 
the high Catskil Mountains).' 

"The officials here in New Amsterdam knew nothing of 
these wonderful discoveries and when they received this let- 
ter in July they replied : — 

" 'We learn with astonishment from your Honor's letter 
of the report made there by Claes de Ruyter of a Coppermine 



4 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

m the Newesinghs and of the request of Gerrit Jansen Kuyper 
and Abel de Wolf as neither before nor since any communica- 
tions in this regard have been made to us nor any petition 
been presented. * * * jn ^^e Fall or early next Spring 
when the woods and hills are burned over and cleared of 
brushes, and if the good God gives us life, we shall not fail to 
make inquiries and send your Honors samples of the discov- 
ered minerals.' 

"The commissioner of the Colony near the mouth of the 
Delaware took up the matter and made an examination. He 
reported during the same year (1659) to the authorities in 
Holland:— 

" *We have examined Claes de Ruyter, an old and experi- 
enced inhabitant, from whom we have learned thus much, that 
the reported Coppermine does not lie on the South River, but 
that a crystal mountain was situate between that Colonie and 
the Manhattans, whereof he himself had brought divers pieces 
and specimens ; furthermore that the acknowledged gold mine 
was apparently there, for he, having kept house with the In- 
dians living high up the river and about Bachom's country, 
had understood from them that quicksilver was to be found 
there.' 

"In 1735 Governor Cosby wrote to the London Board of 
Trade:— 

" *In the Jerseys is one extraordinary rich mine and some 
others are discovered there which afford a good prospect, but 
in this Province none has yet been discovered tho a good deal 
of money has been expended in search of them.' 

"Having given the stories of the mines from the old docu- 
ments we propose to tell of the efforts to reach this region of 
boundless mineral wealth. The spot was near what is now 



MOTIVE. 5 

known as 'The Delaware Water Gap' and upon the left bank 
of the river and thus in New Jersey. No attempt seems to 
have been made to find a route up the Delaware from its 
mouth but from the north. It was soon ascertained that ac- 
cess was the easiest from the Esopus, up the valley of the 
Rondout and to the Delaware along the line on which the 
engineers of the nineteenth century were to build the Dela- 
ware and Hudson Canal. Along this route already pioneers 
had pushed up from Esopus to Hurley; thence to Marble- 
town; to Rochester; to Wawarsing; to Peenpack and to 
Mahackamack, now Port Jervis. Old maps still show the road 
up the valleys which is reputed to have been the best con- 
structed in the colonies and was known as 'The Old Mine 
Road'. When it was built no one knows but its course is still 
shown on maps two hundred years old. 

"Hazard's Register contains a copy of a letter written in 
1828 by Samuel Preston which throws some light upon the 
Minisink settlement and, incidentally upon the road to the 
mines. We will quote therefrom at length: — 

" *In 1787 the writer went on his first surveying tour into 
Northampton County [Pennsylvania] ; he was deputed under 
John Lukens, Surveyor General and received from him, by 
way of instructions, the following narrative respecting the 
settlement of Minisink on the Delaware, above the Kittanny 
and Blue Mountain: — 

" 'That the settlement was formed for a long time before 
it was known to the Government in Philadelphia. That when 
the Government was informed of the settlement, they passed 
a law in 1729 that any such purchases of the Indians should 
be void; and the purchasers indicted for forcible entry and 
detainer according to the law of England. That in 1730 they 



6 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

appointed an agent to go and investigate the facts; that the 
agent so appointed was the famous Surveyor, Nicholas Scull; 
that he, James Lukens, was N. Scull's apprentice to carry 
chain and learn surveying. That as they both understood and 
could talk Indian, they hired Indian guides, and had a 
fatiguing journey, there being then no white inhabitants in 
the upper part of Bucks or Northampton County. That they 
had very great difficulty to lead their horses through the water 
gap to Minisink fiats, which were all settled with Hollanders; 
with several they could only be understood in Indian. At the 
venerable Depuis's they found great hospitality and plenty of 
the necessaries of life. J. Lukens said that the first thing 
which struck his attention was a grove of apple trees of size 
far beyond any near Philadelphia. That as N. Scull and him- 
self examined the banks, they were fully of opinion that all 
those flats had at some very former age been a deep lake be- 
fore the river broke through the mountain, and that the best 
interpretation they could make of Minisink was, the water is 
gone. That S. Dupuis told them when the rivers were frozen 
he had a good road to Esopus, now Kingston, from the Mine- 
holes, on the Mine Road, some hundred miles. That he took 
his wheat and cider there for salt and necessaries, and did not 
appear to have any knowledge or idea where the river ran — 
Philadelphia market — or being in the government of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

" 'They were of opinion that the first settlements of Hol- 
landers in Minisink were many years older than William 
Penn's charter, and that S. Dupuis had treated them so well 
they concluded to make a survey of his claim, in order to be- 
friend him if necessary. When they began to survey the In- 



MOTIVE. 7 

dians gathered around; an old Indian touched Scull and said 
"Put up string, go home". Then they quit and returned. 

" 'I had it in charge from John Lukens to learn more par- 
ticulars respecting the Mine Road to Esopus, &c. I found 
Nicholas Dupuis, Esq., son of Samuel, living in a spacious 
stone house in great plenty and affluence. The old Mineholes 
were a few miles above, on the Jersey side of the river by the 
lower point of Paaquarry Flat; that the Minisink settlement 
extended forty miles or more on both sides of the river. That 
he had well known the Mine Road to Esopus, and used, before 
he opened the boat channel through Foul Rife, to drive on it 
several times every Winter with loads of wheat and cider, as 
also did his neighbors, to purchase their salt and necessaries 
in Esopus, having then no other market or knowledge where 
the river ran to. That after a navigable channel was opened 
through Foul Rift they generally took to boating, and most of 
the settlement turned their trade down stream, the Mine Road 
became less and less traveled. 

" 'This interview with the amiable Nicholas Dupuis, Esq., 
v/as in June, 1787. He then appeared about sixty years of 
age. I interrogated as to the particulars of what he knew, as 
to when and by whom the Mine Road was made, what was the 
ore they dug and hauled on it, what was the date, and from 
whence, or how, came the first settlers of Minisink in such 
great numbers as to take up all the flats on both sides of the 
river for forty miles. He could only give traditionary accounts 
of what he had heard from older people, without date, in sub- 
stance as follows : — 

" 'That in some former age there came a company of miners 
from Holland; supposed, from the great labor expended in 
making that road, about one hundred miles long, that they 



8 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

were very rich or great people, in working the two mines, — 
one on the Delaware River where the mountain nearly ap- 
proaches the lower point of Paaquarry Flat, the other at the 
north foot of the same mountain, near, half way from the Del- 
aware and Esopus. He ever understood that abundance of 
ore had been hauled on that road, but never could learn 
whether lead or silver. That the first settlers came from Hol- 
land to seek a place of quiet being persecuted for their re- 
ligion. I believe they were Arminians. They followed the 
Mine Road to the large flats on the Delaware. That smooth 
cleared land suited their views. That they bona fide bought 
the improvements of the native Indians, most of whom then 
moved to the Susquehanna; that with such as remained there 
was peace until 1755. 

" 'I then went to view the Paaquarry Mineholes. There 
appeared to have been a great abundance of labor done there 
at some former time, but the mouths of these holes were caved 
full, and overgrown with bushes. I concluded to myself if 
there ever had been a rich mine under that mountain it must 
be there yet in close confinement. The other old men I con- 
versed with gave their traditions similar to N. Dupuis, and 
they all appeared to be grandsons of the first settlers, and very 
ignorant as to the dates and things relating to chronology. In 
the Summer of 1789 I began to build on this place; then came 
two venerable gentlemen on a surveying expedition. They 
were the late Gen. James Clinton, the father of the late De 
Witt Clinton, and Christopher Tappen, Esq., Clerk and Re- 
corder of Ulster County. For many years before they had 
both been suryevors under General Clinton's father, when he 
was Surveyor General. In order to learn some history from 
gentlemen of their general knowledge, I accompanied them 



MOTIVE. 9 

in the woods. They both well knew the Mineholes, Mine 
Road, &c., and as there were no kind of documents or records 
thereof, united in the opinion that it was a work transacted 
while the State of New York belonged to the government of 
Holland; that it fell to the English in 1664; and that the 
change in government stopped the mining business, and that 
the road must have been made many years before such digging 
could have been done. That it undoubtedly must have been 
the first good road of that extent made in any part of the 
United States.' 

"In the original act creating Ulster County in 1683 it was 
to extend from Murderers Creek at the Highlands to Sawyers 
Creek at Saugerties. This line continued to the Delaware 
River would have left most of the town of Deer Park in 
Orange County with all of what is now Port Jervis. But pro- 
vision had been made to prevent this. London Documents 
XXXI. Col. Hist. VI., page 927, states:— 

" 'By an Act of this Colony passed so long ago as the 13th 
of William the 3rd it is enacted that Maghackemack, and great 
and little Minisink should be annexed to the County of Ul- 
ster.* 

"This may have extended the borders of this old county in 
those days far down the valley of the Delaware into what is 
now New Jersey and covered the location of the mines. 

"But what is meant by the mine, in this letter of Preston, 
lying north of the one on the Delaware and half way from 
there to Esopus? Was this the mine near Ellenville now 
called 'The Spanish Mine'? Were some Spaniards among 
those early Holland prospectors? We know there was one 
named Manuel Gonzales here as far back as the times of 
Dutch domination. There were others, both Spaniards and 



10 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

Portugese, in the Esopus at that early day and, being of the 
nations who had exploited in Spanish America, they would 
naturally be drawn where minerals were reported. The tra- 
dition of an old Spanish mine at Ellenville, begun by Spanish 
prospectors, might have considerable justification could we 
but discover the facts. There is, however, nothing to show 
that anjrthing but lead was ever found in the Shawangunk 
range." (Here ends "Olde Ulster".) 

Mr. James Eldridge Quinlan, whose History of Sullivan 
County was published in 1873, tells us that the great trail 
from the Hudson to Minisink ran through Marbletown, 
Rochester, Wawarsing, Wurtsborough, Port Jervis and the 
Delaware nearly to the Water Gap. 

In 1663 the Esopus Indians were humbled and a way 
opened to the heart of the Manassing or Minsi country, and 
soon after the treaty of peace the tide of emigration flowed 
through the valley of the Mamakating to Minisink, where the 
council fires of the great Lenape confederacy had glowed for 
many years. The Dutch treated the Indians well and had 
peace. The early days of Peenpack and Minisink are not re- 
corded. 

Gordon, in his history of New Jersey, says: "We may 
justly suppose, that the road between the colonies on the 
Hudson and Delaware was not wholly uninhabited", in 1658. 
He takes it for granted that the Minisink Road, which was 
one hundred miles long was the work of the Dutch, but Mr. 
Quinlan says: "And yet five years after this time (1658) there 
were not seventy-five able bodied male residents of Wild 
Wijk. It is not to be supposed that such a mere handful of 
men had hewn their way through a hundred miles of forest, 
infested by savages." Eager, in his History of Orange 



MOTIVE. 11 

County, expresses the belief that there were miners from Hol- 
land at work in the mine holes of Minisink and in the Mama- 
kating Hollow, previous to 1664, and that the mining business 
closed in consequence of the surrender to the English in that 
year. Quinlan says: "If so, the country must have been ex- 
plored by the Dutch and they would not have been compelled 
to employ as guides, in 1663, white females who had been 
prisoners with the Indians, and escaped; nor would they 
have resorted to Indians to pilot them through the woods to 
the forts and villages of the hostile clans, which were located 
within forty miles of Esopus." 

"The error of Gordon and Eager is undoubtedly based on 
the interesting paper which was communicated by Samuel 
Preston in 1828 to Hazard's Register", (which is quoted by 
Mr. Brink.) 

Pahaquarry is undoubtedly one of the mines mentioned by 
Lindstrom, the Swedish engineer, a knowledge of which, it is 
presumed, was imparted to the inhabitants of Esopus by the 
Minsi Indians, and led to the Minisink settlements above the 
Water Gap. 

When in 1729-30 the Pennsylvanians questioned the right 
of the Dutch to their settlements, Quinlan says : "They (the 
Dutch) were shrewd enough to claim that their ancestors oc- 
cupied the Minisink long before Penn purchased land of the 
Lenape; that in a forgotten age they had constructed a road 
one hundred miles through a wilderness country, to their pos- 
sessions; worked mines, cultivated land, built substantial 
houses, and exercised undisputed control; that from genera- 
tion to generation they had married there — reared their off- 
spring there — grown gray there, and peacefully descended to 



12 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

the valley of death, where their flesh and bones had mouldered 
and returned to dust." 

"When did the first settlers locate there? The Dupuis, as 
their name proves, were French Huguenots and the Hugue- 
nots did not come to this continent previous to 1686. The 
first comers, it is alleged, were miners from Holland, who 
worked in the Pahaquarry Mountain. Grant this, and still 
you do not concede that the territory was settled as soon as 
Gordon and Eager would have us believe; for in 1787, 'the 
old men were grandsons of the original settlers'. In the order 
of nature, this would have been the case, if the original white 
settlers had come as late as 1700. In one hundred and twenty- 
five years the grandsons would have been dead." 

"In February, 1694, Capt. Arent Schuyler was ordered by 
Governor Fletcher to visit the Minisink country. He trav- 
eled through eastern New Jersey and reached the Neversink 
River above Port Jervis and thence passed to Minisink. He 
makes no allusion to white inhabitants of that region, although 
he speaks of traders and trappers, who had passed through it." 
We give his journal as quoted in Stickney's Minisink. 

SCHUYLER'S JOURNAL. 

"May it please your Excell: — 

"In persuance to yr Excell: commands I have been in the 
Minissinck Country of which I have kept the following jour- 
nal : viz. — 

"1694 ye 3d of Feb. : I departed from New Yorke for East 
New Jersey and came that night att Bergentown where I 
hired two men and a guide. 

"Ye 4th Sunday Morning. I went from Bergen and trav- 



MOTIVE. 13 

illed about ten English miles beyond Haghkingsack to an In- 
dian place called Peckwes. 

"Ye 5th Monday. From Peckwes North and be West I 
went about thirty-two miles, snowing and rainy weather. 

"Ye 6th Tuesday I continued my journey to Maggagh- 
kamieck* and from thence to within half a days journey to 
the Minissinck. 

"Ye 7th Wednesday. About Eleaven a clock I arrived at 
the Minissinck, and there I met with two of their Sachems 
and severall other Indians of whome I enquired after some 
news, if the French or their Indians had sent for them or been 
in ye Menissinck Country. Upon wch they answered that 
noe French nor any of the French Indians were nor had been 
in the Menissinck Country nor thereabouts and did promise 
yt if ye French should happen to come or yt they heard of it 
that they will forthwith send a mesinger and give yr Excel- 
lency notice thereof. 

"Inquireing further after news they told me that six days 
agoe three Christians and two Shauwans (Shawnee) Indians 
who went about fifteen months agoe with Arnout Vielle into 
the Shauwans Country were passed by the Menissinck going 
for Albany to fetch powder for Arnout and his company ; and 
further told them that sd Arnout intended to be there wth 
seaven hundred of ye said Shauwans Indians loaden with 
beaver and peltries att ye time ye Indian corn is about one 
foot high (which may be in the month of June). 

* <<Maghhackamack. This name was first applied to a tract of land in 
the lower Neversink valley. Subsequently that river was called the Magh- 
hackamack. Ack or ach was the Lenape word for meadow, or land covered 
with grass. M'ack-h' ach-a-m'ach undoubtedly means a plurality of 
meadows." 



14 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

"The Menissinck Sachems further sd that one of their 
Sachems and other of their Indians were gone to fetch beaver 
and peltries which they had hunted; and having heard no 
more of them are afraid ye Sinnegues (Senecas) have killed 
them for ye lucar of ye beaver or because ye Menissinck In- 
dians have not been with ye Sinnegues as usual to pay their 
Dutty, and therefore desire that your excellency will be 
pleased to order yt ye Sinnegues may be told not to molest or 
hunt ye Menissincks they be willing to continue in amity with 
them. 

"In the afternoon I departed from ye Menissincks; the 
8th, gth and loth of Feb. I traveled and came att Bergen in 
ye morning about noone arrived att New Yorke. 

"This is may it please your Excell. the humble report of 
your Excellency's most humble servt. 

Arent Schuyler." 

"In 1697, three years after Schuyler's expedition to the 
Minisink, a patent for lands in the valley was granted to him ; 
also another for one thousand acres to the original settlers of 
Peenpack. There is no evidence that the Minisink country 
was settled previous to the year last named." 

The original settlers of Mamakating were principally 
French Protestants who fled from their country on the revo- 
cation of the edict of Nantes. In 1697 they obtained a patent 
for twelve hundred acres in the Peenpack Valley at a place 
then called Wagaghkemek (Qu.: Maghhackamack). 

"Subsequently, it is believed, a mine was opened and 
worked at a point north of Peenpack; but that from some 
cause it was abandoned." 

Those who labored in the Shawangunk Mine in Mamakat- 



MOTIVE. 15 

ing cannot be styled settlers. When they abandoned the mine 
they abandoned the country, leaving no enduring trace behind 
them. After their exodus several years must have elapsed be- 
fore the actual settlement of the valley began; long enough 
to cause the exact locality of the mine to be forgotten, other- 
wise it could be pointed out at this day. 

"The first settler about 1700 was Don Manuel Gonsalus, 
a Spanish Puritan, who fled from Spain on account of perse- 
cution and married into a Dutch family at Rochester, Ulster 
County. He moved to Mamakating Hollow, built a log house 
and entertained those who carried wheat to the Kingston 
market", so says an early writer. Others do not agree, it 
being claimed that he was neither a nobleman nor a Puritan, 
and that while his name is mentioned in Kingston records as 
early as 1689, he did not come to Mamakating until after 1728, 
good reasons being given which are not copied here. It is 
not even certain that he was the original white settler, al- 
though such is the universal tradition. 

The Old Mine Road terminated at the old copper mine in 
Pahaquarry a few miles above the Water Gap, and here we 
will leave theories and start with the main business of this 
book — a record of a tramp or tramps over the old and modern 
highway. 

However there is one more document to be quoted, and 
then we are through with that sort of filling and can tend to 
the wild flowers and legends. 

Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf came to this country in 
1 741 and founded the Moravian missions in Pennsylvania 
which were soon spread among the Indians in various direc- 
tions. The Count in the course of his travels had occasion to 
cover the Old Mine Road and his journal referring to that 



16 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

part of his trip is given here, it being a "Narative of a Journey 
to Shecomeco, twenty miles southeast of Rhinebeck, N. Y., 
in August, 1742", and is taken from the Memorials of the 
Moravian Church. 

MEMORIALS OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH, 
Vol. I, Page 47. 



Narative of a Journey to Shecomeco, twenty miles southeast 
of Rhinebeck, N. Y., in August of 1742. 



Count Zinzendorf, his daughter and Anton Seyffert left 
Nazareth, Pa., for Shecomeco. An old Indian trail led over 
the Blue Mountains through Tat's Gap into the Minisink; 
this led to Depue's ford over the Delaware River. Only such 
of the journal as covers the Count's trip over the Old Mine 
Road is given herewith: — 

Aug. II, 1742. "In the evening we reached the bank of the 
Delaware, and came to Mr. De Puis who is a large landholder 
and wealthy. While at his house he had some Indians ar- 
rested for robbing his orchard." 

Aug. 12, 1742 (Sunday). "His son escorted us to the 
church and in course of conversation put a number of indif- 
ferent and idle questions on religious subjects. My inability 
to answer him gratified rather than chagrined me, and was. 
I thought, altogether an advantage on my side." 

"We dismounted at the church, and were compelled to lis- 
ten to two sermons, which wearied us. 

"In the morning the heat had been overpowering. In order 
to avoid being drawn into religious controversy, I went into 
the woods and read Josephus. The Dominie came to me and 



MOTIVE. 17 

annoyed me with questions and remarks. Although my curt 
manner provoked him, it served to bring him to reflection, and 
he sought to propitiate me afterwards by riding with us for 
several hours. He is the well known Caspar from Zurich, a 
well-meaning man, I must confess, — one of the so-called 
'Convictionists', without much conviction, however, and yet 
efficient for good in his denomination." 

The river is fordable at the head of De Pew's Island, a lit- 
tle above the house. The old homestead, thirty-eight miles 
below Port Jervis, is still in the family. 

Aug. 13, 1742. "As we rode along, we were joined 
by a man who complained of the burden of his sins, and who 
inquired of me what to do to be saved. From his remarks, 
during the conversation, I failed to discover any solid ground, 
in his religious experience on which to erect an abiding su- 
perstructure." 

"On passing a house, a female stepped out, spoke to us, 
and after the interchange of a few words, asked us to dis- 
mount, adding that her son, she knew, would be pleased to 
converse with us. We were unable to gratify her wish as we 
had purposed passing the Minnisinks, and through half of the 
widerness beyond, and there was a journey of thirty miles be- 
fore us. When we reached the house that stands in the heart 
of it, night had already set in and it was dark as pitch." 

Aug. 14, 1742. "Set out early in the morning; rode 
through the remainder of the wilderness, and reached Mom- 
bach and Marbletown. (Passed the night perhaps at the 
'Jagd-house', half-way between Port Jervis and Kingston, or 
at Emanuel Pascal's.) We were much annoyed by the ill- 
natured questions that were put to us at a house at which we 
dismounted. Rode on through Hurley to Sopus. Here we 



18 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

met Sr. Anna and Christian Frohlich and his wife. I dis- 
patched Christian to the Delaware to be with them at their 
festival, and retained Mary. 

"In the afternoon we resumed our journey, crossed the 
North River, and halted for the night. The people here re- 
garded us as Saints." 

(Conrad Weisser, in his Journal to Onondaga, in August, 
1750, gives the following stations and distances: — 
Aug. 17, Came to Nazareth 
Aug. 18, To Nicklas Depuy, in Smithfield, on 

Delaware 39 miles 

Aug. 19, To Henry Cortrecht at Meniss- 

ing 25 miles 

Aug. 20, To Emanuel Pascal, "The Span- 
iard" 35 miles 

Aug. 21, To Kingstown (Sopus) 44 miles) 

"On the 24th of August we set out on our return home." 
Aug. 25. "Crossed the North River. Sopus being the 
Sodom of New York we resolved to pass through, and not 
spend Sunday within its borders. This prolonged our jour- 
ney into the night and we barely succeeded in finding lodgings 
on the other side of Hurley." 

Aug. 26 (Sunday). "I spent the whole day out of doors, 
and although I kept myself in the woods, I nevertheless got 
into difficulty. It was beyond my control to escape what the 
people here were determined to inflict on me. For in the even- 
ing, as Benigna (his daughter) was writing by candlelight in 
our lodgings, a Justice of the Peace came into the room and 
forbade us in the King's name. He then left in a storm of 
rage. Next morning at 5 o'clock (we were scarcely out of 
bed) a constable sent by him arrested me, Benigna, and An- 



MOTIVE. 19 

ton, and led us back to Hurley. Here were examined by 
the Justice in public ; and without a proper hearing were con- 
victed, and fined i8s. for Sabbath breaking. He then dis- 
missed us with manifest regret that it was not in his power to 
impose a severer punishment. I really believe it would have 
afforded the people extreme pleasure to have seen us bound as 
scoffers of God and the King and taken down to New York. 
One of our Indians on being asked whether he wished to look 
on at the examination, rejoined saying: 'Why should I look 
on at such a malicious proceeding?' This answer vexed the 
bystanders." 

Aug. 27. "Reached Minnisink. 

Aug. 28. Came to the Delaware, across which we swam 
our horses." 

"Deposition— Budingische Sammlung Part XV., No. 18? 

"On the 26th of August, 1742, about 9 o'clock a. m., we, the 
undersigned, and three Mohican converts, sat down near a 
thicket, a short distance on the other side of Hurley. Soon 
after, our Brother von Thurnstein came to us out of the 
woods, and asked us whether we intended traveling further. 
We told him we thought of doing so. Hereupon, he earnestly 
advised us that it was Sunday, that the Presb)^erians took 
offense at Sunday travel, and that on this account he had 
thought proper to make a halt. From regard to him we did 
as he bade us. He remained the greater part of the day in the 
woods (as was his custom), although it rained incessantly, and 
about candlelight returned to the house where we were lodg- 
ing. Seeing his daughter Benigna seated at a table, he 
handed her a poem on the Indians he had composed a few days 
ago and asked her to copy it. She being unable to do it at 
once, he engaged in conversation, and spoke with much feeling 



20 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

of God's gracious dealings with the Economy at Halle, in the 
welfare of which institution he always took a lively interest." 

"In the midst of the discourse a messenger entered the 
room and inquired whether any one of the company present 
had known the late Isaac Ysselstein of the Forks of Delaware. 
As Dominie von Thurnstein had had little acquaintance with 
him, and as he was always averse to engaging in any conver- 
sation with people on Sunday, he referred the inquirer to 
Dominie A. Seyffert. Dominie von Thurnstein now handed 
the poem to his daughter to copy and at the same time began 
to write in his memorandum." 

"Although he expressly requested that no one should dis- 
turb him that day, several persons nevertheless entered the 
room and sat down. It was always left for him to conduct 
the religious discussions which usually followed the arrival 
of obtrusive visitors; but on the present occasion he con- 
fined himself to his writing, appearing disinclined to speak in 
the presence of the Indians, who all understood Low Dutch. 
Accordingly, he took no part in the conversation (there being 
some five or six of us, enough to answer all questions) until 
he was addressed personally. He had just finished his memo- 
randa, and the Countess had completed the copying, when one 
of his visitors, who appeared to be the leader, remarked to 
him that he, the Dominie, seemed to be very industrious. *Not 
at air, said the latter, adding, at the same time, that he was 
merely noting down a few thoughts. To this the man rejoined, 
saying that it was Sunday. Hereupon, Dominie von Thurn- 
stein wishing to avoid useless controversy, observed that 
probably they differed in their religious views, but that, ac- 
cording to his belief, such writing as he had been engaged in 
was not unlawful on Sunday. 'The King', said the other, 'has 



MOTIVE. 21 

ordered that Sunday be strictly kept in every particular, even 
in the face of the religious liberty which prevails in the land.' " 

"This remark as well as the speaker's statement that he 
was a Justice of the Peace, and had spoken in the King's 
name, induced the Dominie to address a letter to the Governor 
in New York, in which he related what had happened." 

"He took this step with the presumption, that in case the 
Justice were acting illegally in the premises, it would bring 
him to reflection ; in case, however, his course was lawful, the 
Governor's endorsement of it would screen himself and his 
followers from slanderous reports. As often as this letter was 
presented to the Justice for delivery he persistently returned 
it with coarse invective ; and early next morning, as we were 
about to resume our journey, a constable, sent by him, came 
to the house and arrested, with his tipstaff, first the Countess 
Benigna and next Dom. A. Seyffert. Dom. von Thurnstein ac- 
companied them without compulsion, and hence the officer 
need not have touched him with his staff, and made a formal 
arrest. What else transpired, these deponents say not." 

"We learned subsequently that the three were fined for 
Sabbath breaking, despite their protestations of innocence, 
that the Justice had alleged the Dominie's incivility to him 
on the previous night as the cause of his arrest and that he 
had returned the letter written to the Governor for the last 
time, in a passion and with threats." 

"The bystanders on asking our Indians, after the arrest, 
whether they wished to be presented at the examination, the 
latter replied, that they took neither interest nor pleasure in 
such a malicious proceeding." 

"Above deposition, although not made before a magistrate, 
we, the undersigned, eye witnesses of the occurrences therein 
stated, affirm to be strictly true. N. N. and N. N." 



22 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 



KINGSTON. 



It will be noted that our amiable friend the Count has 
called Kingston "the Sodom of New York"; just why he did 
so is not plain, but I take credit to myself for a discovery made 
during the Fall of 1906, and that is that this same Sopus or 
Kingston is the site or immediate vicinity of the Garden of 
Eden, thus utterly refuting the slander that our missionary 
friend has placed on this beautiful city. The proof of this lies 
in the fact that Mother Eve is buried within its precincts as 
all may see who walk along the Fair Street side of the burial 
ground. Another interesting point developed is Adam's chris- 
tian name, if early man can be said to have had a christian 
name. We all know that in the early days people were no- 
toriously careless in regard to names, and while it is possible 
that the full name of our common ancestor is mentioned 
somewhere besides on the tombstone of his Eve, I have over- 
looked it, if such is the fact. It now seems that Adam was a 
Tenbroock and evidently a good Dutchman, and that ac-^ 
counts for another matter that has always been a puzzle, 
which is the evidently Dutch contour of the Prophets and 
other early Bible characters as illustrated on old blue tiles; 
in fact, I think I recall having seen on such a tile a portrait of 
either Adam or Noah waving the Dutch flag. It is astonish- 
ing how simple the most knotty questions become when sud- 
den inspiration unlocks the door. 

The City of Kingston celebrated the two hundred and fif- 
tieth anniversary of its founding May 30th to June ist, 1908. 



KINGSTON. 23 

On the 30th the inhabitants were so pestered with rain as 
to remind one of the same trouble the Dutch experienced two 
hundred and fifty years ago, when the floods prevented them 
for days from following after the Indians and their captives. 

The remains of Governor George Clinton, which through 
the exertions of Mr. Benjamin M. Brink and Chaplain Randal 
Hoes had been brought from Washington, were reinterred in 
the Dutch churchyard in the afternoon, but the speechmaking 
by ex-Governor David B. Hill was adjourned to the court- 
house because of the storm. In the evening Major-General O. 
O. Howard, Judge Clearwater and Judge Hasbrouck delivered 
addresses. 

Sunday, the 31st, was dedicated to memorial services in 
all the churches. At the Dutch Church Major-General How- 
ard gave an interesting talk on Lincoln, rightly claiming that 
no patriotic celebration was complete without mention of that 
great patriot. 

Dr. Van Slyke announced from the pulpit that on the fol- 
lowing Sunday, June 7th, Chaplain Hoes would deliver an 
address recounting the attack on Wilt-Wick which opened the 
second Esopus war and read part of a letter from Domine 
Hermanus Blom, in which he craved permission from the 
Director General and the Honorable Council for an annual 
celebration by fasting and prayer to commemorate on each 
June 7th the event, and to give thanks for their preservation 
from the heathen. 

June ist was the grand day of the celebration. Here were 
parades and Indians and speeches, an attack on the stockade 
by the noble order of Red Men dressed as aborigines, while 
the night was illumined with fireworks. 

I am reminded of a remark attributed to General Horace 



24 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

Porter at the celebration of Kingston, October 17, 1893, to the 
effect that the Sons of the D. A. R. liked to place themselves 
on a plane below the Daughters of the A. R., partly from 
modesty, partly that we feel ourselves a little lower than the 
angels, and partly that we may obey the scriptural injunction 
which commands a man to set his affections on things that are 
above. 

Kingston, with all its old stone houses, that are as at- 
tractive pictorially as they are from an historic and romantic 
point of view, offers wonderful possibilities for a fruitful 
imagination. There should be a dozen or more good ghost 
stories and romances waiting for some one to garb them be- 
comingly for company. What a troop must cling around the 
Hoffman house, that stretches from the palisaded village to 
the days of the trolley, and how many romances have dated 
their opening chapters from the old ball room of the De Waall 
place. 

It is no fault of the Dutch Church that its steeple has 
spells; certainly this beautiful, slender spire points the way 
to Heaven as both the architect and the builders intended, and 
yet there is a mysterious something, as one stands below and 
gazes to the diamonded shingles and small windows, that 
gives the imagination play. 

It was well known some forty years ago that a spectral 
painter worked on this steeple of stormy nights, and then 
there is the hobgoblin's cap that was discovered one fine 
morning perched on its highest pinnacle — possibly it is some 
trace of one or other of these visitations, possibly of some 
long forgotten bewitchment; it is not for me to say. I can 
but report in good faith what has been told me, and leave the 
matter to the judgment of those better versed in such things. 



KINGSTON. 25 

Something like forty years ago it became necessary to 
paint this tall spire, but only one painter was found with 
nerves steady enough to undertake the work. This man, be- 
ginning at the base worked steadily upward until he reached 
the small windows, when he was suddenly stricken and died 
shortly after being helped to the ground. 

There are those who claim that the workman died of 
painter's colic, but it is a singular and startling fact that he 
was not affected until he reached the level of the small win- 
dows mentioned above, and which are readily seen from the 
street. Now, such research as I have been able to make leads 
me to believe that that same hobgoblin, before referred to and 
about which we are to learn more shortly, had in some way 
been imprisoned among the rafters and there held by the holy 
spell and, lying in wait for the painter, had made faces at the 
man through the glass of a window and scared his breath 
away. 

It must be admitted that this is largely theory, with little 
proof beyond the fact that the painter died. 

Now comes the strange part of the tale: It seems that 
shortly after the death of the painter some citizen whose word 
was unimpeachable (some award the honor to Mr. Samuel 
Paulding, but there appears to be no positive means of identi- 
fication) had revealed to him by a flash of lightning (or in- 
spiration) one stormy night (or possibly it was through the 
bottom of a glass darkly — I am somewhat baffled here) the 
figure of a spectral painter high up on the steeple and hard at 
work. 

The report spread quickly throughout the town and there 
was much excitement. While it was only given to certain 
elect brethren to see the spectre, there were yet enough to 



26 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

firmly establish the fact, as is evidenced by the current files 
of the local papers. 

So far as can be ascertained, at this late date, this con- 
tinued for but two or three years, and it is believed that the 
purpose of the spectre, whatever that may have been, having 
been accomplished, it repaired to some other job. The mys- 
tery has never been explained. 

And now for the hobgoblin : In days of old, when sermons 
were long and church-goers were early risers, peculiar noises 
were commonly heard during the time of service, which were 
unkindly attributed to the throat action of certain wor- 
shippers, but which, in view of late developments, it now 
seems probable were ventriloquistic waves sent down from 
the steeple to bring unmerited shame on such good brothers 
as were wont to close their eyes for the purpose of more pro- 
found meditation. Be this as it was, these strange noises were 
heard regularly on Sunday mornings for many years, but are 
practically never heard to-day. I say heard on Sunday morn- 
ings ; it is more than probable that had any been present dur- 
ing other days of the week similar or other noises might have 
been heard, but naturally no record could be kept of such — at 
least on earth. 

It seems that some one of the old Domines had on a cer- 
tain occasion made a journey to New York, and while returning 
on a Hudson River sloop with his good wife, a monstrous hob- 
goblin was suddenly discovered perched astride the bowsprit, 
much to the mental anguish of the lady and, in fact, of the en- 
tire crew. But our man of learning soon put the hideous crea- 
ture to flight with an exorcism known only to himself and, 
strange to relate, the very next morning the cap of this same 
goblin was discovered hanging on the highest point of the 



KINGSTON. 27 

Domine's own church in Kingston and for many years there- 
after these strange noises, already referred to, became mani- 
fest. 

Presumably this goblin, in his violent efforts to recover the 
cap, became in some way incarcerated within the steeple and, 
being on holy ground, was deprived of his evil power; thus 
he was only able to vent his spite by such petty annoyances, 
until in an untoward moment his baleful influences were re- 
turned to him while the painter was at his work. 

I understand that at Harvard has been established a chair 
of psychology, which undertakes to investigate well authenti- 
cated incidents of this sort and, so far as possible, explain 
them on scientific principles. It would be interesting to get 
this matter before the learned professors, and it is hoped that 
some one will use his influence to this end. 

Here is a story taken from a book entitled "Rachel Du- 
mont", and as most of my material is taken from the most 
reliable sources, I do not see why it is not permissible for me 
to give this tale just as it came to me : — 

"Caesar was an old colored butler in a Kingston family. He 
wore his hair braided on one side. The corresponding portion 
had been cut off by his nephew, Pompey, one day when the 
old man was asleep. Pompey's father caught him in the act, 
but old Caesar always claimed 'it was dem rascally Britishers 
dat wuz tryin' to scalp him', and he was quite proud of his one- 
sided queue. 

"Pompey said he cut the old man's hair off because 'Uncle 
Caese put on mos' too much "grandiloquism" for a nigger, 
eben dough him is a butler'." 

Before we get too far away from the church, I feel it my 
duty to lend a helping hand to the following facts, lest they 



28 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

perish by the way. In the good old days when sermons were 
not measured by time and the congregation was wont to fol- 
low "the comfortable Dutch custom of taking a nap", Doctor 
Gosman (the first minister called to preach in the English 
language — 1808) was, on a certain Sunday morning, deliver- 
ing a powerful sermon on the subject of faith, and used as an 
illustration the story of Thomas, called Didymus. In the gal- 
lery sat two brothers one of whom bore the christian name of 
Thomas, and he, having wandered to the land of dreams, hardly 
took in the full significance of the Domine's remarks ; but, at 
last, becoming partially aroused by the frequent repetition of 
his name, as the Doctor in tones of thunder demanded, 
"Thomas, believest thou me?" finally answered back: "Wat 
begeert-u van my. Doctor Gosman?" His brother, greatly 
scandalized at the unseemly interruption, improved the situ- 
ation vastly by vigorously shaking the drowsy man and say- 
ing in a loud voice : "Wees stil, man ; wees stil ! Hy spreekt 
niet van u; hy spreekt van Thomas Didymus." 

On Crown Street, between John and North Front, stands 
the one-time "Kingston Coffee House", while over against it 
stands the Kingston Hotel, both of them dating back to an 
early period. 

Mr. Schoonmaker tells how the landlords of both never 
drank at their own bars as a matter of principle ; thus there was 
a certain nimble sixpence which made many excursions be- 
tween the two hostelries as the proprietor of one or other de- 
sired to wet his whistle. 

There is a pretty legend attached to the Kingston Hotel, 
which has Aaron Burr meet John Vanderlyn, the artist, here. 
The fact that the legend appears to clash with the facts to a 
small extent is no reason why we should not have it. 



KINGSTON. 29 

As a lawyer Burr traveled this circuit many times and was 
a well-knov/n figure about the hotel. One day, on going to 
the stable for his horse, he discovered a young man sketching 
with charcoal on the great barn door and, struck with the 
lad's clever handling of his subject, spoke to him. Thus be- 
gan a friendship which gave the lawyer an opportunity to help 
the poor artist to the education he most desired. 

Schoonmaker's History of Kingston tells us that at the 
point where the road to West Hurley leaves North Front 
Street, northwest corner, stood the store of A. & A. Story, later 
of J. & J. Russell. On the south side of this store was an inlet 
communicating with a lane (Joy's Lane) leading southerly to 
Lucas Avenue. That inlet was originally the commencement 
of the old King's Highway to Hurley, Marbletown, etc. From 
that point, taking a somewhat circuitous course, it struck into 
the present road a short distance west of the old Winne house. 
The change to the present road was made in 1813. 

On the south side of this "intake" and at the corner of the 
lane stood the stone mansion of Nicholas Bogardus. General 
George H. Sharpe has recorded how Nicholas spent the later 
years of his life in protecting a fine plum orchard back of his 
dwelling from certain predatory boys who were fond of plums» 
His chief weapons were a stout cane and a series of well se- 
lected Dutch oaths with which the young rascals were bom- 
barded. The boys, however, appear to have worn oathproof 
armor, and were quite content could they but keep out of reach 
of the cane, which, it is to be presumed, was not always the 
case, and returned to the charge the moment the old gentle- 
man retired from the field. Thus the latter lived an active, 
if not peaceful, life and through much exercise a healthy and 



30 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

vigorous old age, while his happy command of language was 
the subject of many congratulations. 

While in this vicinity it is interesting to note the origin of 
Lucas Avenue, which has its name from the fact that it was 
the starting point of the "Neversink Turnpike Road", in which 
Judge Lucas Elmendorf of Kingston was the moving spirit. 
This was organized July 3, 1807, and ran through Hurley, 
Marbletown, Rochester and Wawarsing. It nearly paralleled 
the free highway and finally formed a junction with it at 
Accord. The scheme did not pay, so in 181 7 the name of the 
company was changed to "The President and Directors of the 
First Great Southwestern Turnpike Road Company", but even 
such a grand name failed to insure a success and the president 
and directors were soon looking for another job. 

On Lucas Avenue, a step beyond Joy's Lane, still stands 
one of the old "jail limits" stones, a reminiscence of the times 
when folks who could not pay for what they ate and wore 
were committed to the county jail until they could, a highly 
satisfactory arrangement, no doubt, to the creditor and tax- 
payer, for then the poor debtor was cared for and none need 
worry lest he go hungry. In due time some one discovered 
that the joke was on the taxpayers, and "jail limits" were es- 
tablished and the debtor was discharged "on the limits", he 
agreeing not to go beyond the stones which were set up on the 
main thoroughfares one mile from the jail in all directions, and 
to report to the jail every day, Sundays and holidays excepted. 
One undesirable feature to the debtor of this arrangement was 
the fact that he must secure a bondsman who would pledge 
twice the amount of the debt, and if the debtor overstepped 
the bounds by ever so little or so short a time and was caught 
at it the bondsman must pay. 



KINGSTON. 31 

There is a legend of that old gray stone house erected by 
Colonel Wessel Ten Broeck in 1676, and now known as the 
Senate House, which is too beautiful to change, and is given 
just as it comes to me : — 

In some time far remote there lived in this gray mansion 
a wealthy Dutchman, as staunch to the principles of the gov- 
ernment of his ancestors as he was rich. Alone with him lived 
his beautiful young daughter, whom he kept secluded and 
guarded from the small world about them. 

One night there came a rap at the heavy oaken door, and 
as the hour was late the father answered the call, swinging 
wide the upper half-door and asking who sought admittance. 
The answer came in English : He was a stranger on his way 
from New Amsterdam to Van Rensselaerwyck and sought 
shelter for himself and horse. The youth was admitted, 
though the good man hesitated, being ever suspicious of the 
English, and neither speaking nor understanding their lan- 
guage any too well. The line physique, the noble face and ap- 
parent wealth and refinement of the guest demanded and won 
the respect of the host. 

The Englishman was no more conversant with the Dutch 
language than was the burgher fluent in the use of English. 
Conversation was difficult and they soon abandoned any at- 
tempt to talk. The stranger's eyes wandered about the fire 
and candle lighted circle ; the shadows hid the maiden, but the 
light fell upon the shining body of a rare old violin on the 
high mantle. The stranger grasped it eagerly, and gently 
saying, "Here is a common language — I will speak to you", 
he raised the violin to his shoulder and produced such rare 
harmony as was never before heard in Wiltwyck. 

On and on he played, lost in a spell of his own weaving. 



32 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

The old man*s head bowed, his pipe was forgotten in reveries 
of his home land; the maiden moved out from the dusk as 
one drawn by an unseen force and stood in the light with 
shining eyes, glowing cheeks, parted lips and hands clasped 
before her. 

The youth now saw her for the first time, an enchanting 
picture of enraptured and radiant beauty. He realized the 
power of the music; he felt the charm of her sweet, young 
being. On and on he played — for her — now softly as the sigh- 
ing of the winds in the Summer woods; now the martial 
strains that tell of tramping feet, of conflict and of victory. 
The long pipe of the father fell to the hearth before the bright 
logs, and the reveries gave place to dreams of heavy slumber. 
The violin was put aside and the young people understood the 
lovelight kindled in each other's eyes. 

When the old man awoke he found his daughter in the 
gallant's arms. In anger he sent her from the room and in 
grim silence conducted the other offender to his chamber. 
His wrath was in no wise calmed in the morning and he has- 
tened the departure of his visitor. The lover was not in haste 
to leave his lady, and haunted the plain near the old stone 
mansion for days, meeting her secretly, but the music they 
loved betrayed them. 

The father ordered the maiden to be locked in her room 
and the despairing lover went sadly on his journey. For days 
the girl in sweet melancholy visited the places she and the 
stranger had frequented. She fondled the violin as a thing 
which had been voice to their mutual love. 

Her father found her thus engaged kneeling on the hearth 
in the firelight. His anger rose at this rebellion to his wishes 
and he seized the instrument and roughly dismissed her. She 



KINGSTON. 33 

went to her room but never left it again. For little more than 
a fortnight she lingered between life and death and faded 
away, unheedful of her father's entreaty for forgiveness, but 
seeking one last favor. She requested that the dear old violin 
be sealed in the side of the ancient Dutch chimney before 
which she had first heard her lost lover play, and this request 
the contrite father gladly granted. 

The loyal spirits of the lovers still meet on the hearth be- 
fore the chimney of the "Old Senate House", and only true, 
loving souls, disciples of the mystic truth in life, hear the 
sweet melody of the English lover's unseen violin. 

—[Edith M. Elting. 

Mrs. J. L. Preston tells a singular incident which occurred 
to her aunt when the latter was a small girl. A schoolmate 
being very ill, she was sent by her mother to inquire after the 
sick one, and returned shortly with the information that it 
had not been necessary to make inquiry, as she had seen her 
young companion on the walk in front of the house, that she 
looked about as usual and smiled on her. Later in the day it 
was learned that the child had died just about the time her 
little friend had reported having seen her. 

When this occurred the "aunt" was but eight or ten years 
of age, and too young to appreciate the strangeness of the 
situation, and she is described in after life as of an unusually 
phlegmatic and unemotional temperament. It is therefore im- 
possible that there could have been any make-believe about 
the matter. 

On Frog Alley which, before the Esopus Creek was 
bridged, led to the ford, stands an old Bogardus home. Some 
time prior to the Revolution and down to about 1818 this 
house was occupied by one Roe, the silversmith of Kingston, 



34 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

who turned out some very good work. An apprentice who 
learned his trade here under Roe, Vallette by name, also had 
something of a reputation in the art. 

In those days there were only about eight hundred silver- 
smiths in the entire country ; each made his own designs, was 
an artist and a man of more or less distinction. 

Here is a true witch story from Saugerties, the principal 
actor in which is still living: — 

Some forty years ago a young boy in Saugerties who was 
musically inclined much desired an organ, and about this time 
he was taken with violent tremblings and twitchings which 
greatly alarmed his parents, who finally called in the witch 
doctor, and he, after studying the case with great care, an- 
noimced it a most serious one, the only remedy for which was 
that the boy be passed a certain number of times through the 
belly of a freshly killed and disemboweled beef, the carcass to 
be thereafter hung in a well. 

This was done, but without the desired effect. My notion 
is that the carcass in the well was hung wrong end up, and the 
doctor was again called in. By this time the boy appears to 
have made the doctor understand what ailed him and the 
good man announced that he believed music might effect a 
cure, so the lad secured his organ and immediately thereafter 
was he made whole. 



HURLEY. 35 



HURLEY. 



'Loop, jongens— loop; Hasten, children— hasten ; 

De Rooje komme; The Red coats come; 

Span de wagen Hitch up the wagon 

Voor de paerde Behind the horses 

En vy na Hurley toe." And run toward Hurley. 

One fine Spring morning I left Kingston on the Old Mine 
Road, bound for the mine holes on the Delaware. This was 
the year of the daisy; not for a long time have they been so 
beautiful or abundant. The farmer hereabouts calls them 
bulls-eyes and welcomes them with a mowing machine where 
he can, for they spoil the grass, but they make a wonderfuUy 
attractive foreground for pasture and mountain. As I walked 
a sound came that startled m.e, even though I could see by 
the open mouth and stretched neck that it emanated from a 
raooly-cow, so like was it to a fog horn dovm on the Massa- 
chusetts coast that I have heard many a time — even the 
soughing in of old mooly's breath helped along the illusion, 
for it was so like unto the gentle lapping of the wavelets on a 
pebbly shore. Being on pleasure bent, I stopped and listened 
for a moment, closing my eyes and going back in memory to 
mornings when I have stood at an upper window and looked 
out on nothing and listened to the calls from unseen vessels 
in the harbor or the sudden hammering of a horse's hoofs on 
the wharf and the as sudden silence as the horse came to earth 
again, as startling in its way as a sudden crash. 

The milestones up here measure the shortest miles that I 



36 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

have ever walked, though they agree fairly well with the dis- 
tances as laid down on the maps ; the three miles from Kings- 
ton to Hurley are a notable example of this brevity of the 
miles, the surroundings are so unceasingly attractive. A 
glance down Spook Hollow failed to show Mr. Spook, though 
he may have been there for all that. My eyes are stigmatic, 
which may have something to do with the uncertainty of his 
whereness, for I must look straight ahead through glasses, and 
my notion is that a ghost is best seen out of the corner of one's 
eye. Last year, when up this way, our spook was carrying his 
head in his hands like a Jack-o'-lantern, but what the style 
of wearing it is for this year I was not able to learn, for it is 
to be presumed that when one has a detachable head there 
would be little variations in the manner of carrying it just, as 
I understand, the method of carrying a cane changes from sea- 
son to season. 

The spook hole is because witches and spooks were 
wont to gather at the bottom of this gully, which lies near 
Gus Elmendorf's. The only case of a spook being actually 
seen there that I have been able to run down is that of a gen- 
tleman of Hurley who, returning late one night from Kings- 
ton, found that his horse absolutely refused to pass the spot, 
no matter how he applied the lash. Finally he dismounted 
and when on a level with his intelligent beast saw a spook, in 
shape like a man, leaning against the fence, and being fully 
persuaded of the reasonableness of his horse's fright, and 
solely in order to relieve the animal's mind he promptly turned 
and galloped back, making his way home by another route. 

Once around the corner into Hurley Street, I soon found 
the open door, and entered thereat to find that the friends had 
rather been expecting me to make an early start and drop in 



HURLEY. 37 

for breakfast. My! how fine the old Senate House did look, 
all dressed up. Its colors are two-thirds patriotic and one- 
third Irish — red, white and green — though the Doctor insists 
his father was an Englishman. Now that the old place is get- 
ting used to its good clothes and conveniences it must wonder 
sometimes how it ever got along with any sort of comfort at 
all in the old days. It turns out that the east room with all 
its shelves is not to be the kitchen at all, but a library, and 
back of it the snuggest little writing room that ever was: 
Hawthorne described it when picturing the Old Manse : — 

"In the rear of the house, the most delightful little nook of 
a study that ever offered its snug seclusion to a scholar. * * * 
The study had three windows (ours has only one, but never 
mind) set with little, old-fashioned panes of glass, * * * 
The two on the western side looked, or rather peeped, between 
the willow branches down into the orchard, with glimpses of 
the river through the trees. The third facing northward, com- 
manded a broader view of the river at a spot where its hitherto 
obscure waters gleam forth into the light of history." The 
description is not as perfect a fit as I thought it was going to 
be, but somehow it made me think of the Doctor's "den" 
when, in an hour's idle reading, I ran across it some time ago. 

The Doctor finds that old deeds of Hurley lots describe 
the property as bordering on the "King's Highway", but the 
Rochester town records speak of our Old Mine Road as the 
"King's Highway" and the Hurley deeds may not necessarily 
mean that this was the great north-and-south "King's High- 
way" which Mr. Brink believes held its course between here 
and the Hudson — through Green Kill and so east of the Binne- 
water Lakes — but rather that which led into the western wilds. 

The orchard lot back of the Senate House has not been 



38 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

plowed since i860, until this year, when it is being put into 
potatoes, and now many arrow points and spear heads are 
turned up. An Iroquois bowl was recently found in a bank 
nearby. 

It has always been claimed that the Council of Safety re- 
moved from the "Senate House" because, no matter how warm 
the debate, the language used immediately froze and fell to 
the floor. This kept the speaker on the jump lest his toes be 
smashed by the heavy words and took the mind of the orator 
from what he was saying to such an extent that no business 
could be transacted. The Doctor says that "sentimentally it 
is pleasing to look upon it so", but that the action of the Coun- 
cil of Safety indicates that the weather had nothing to do with 
the removal. 

The Council desired the Governor to disband it and call 
a meeting of the Legislature. The Governor, however, ob- 
jected that his duties would not allow him to come so far 
north as Hurley, but suggested that if a meeting were held at 
Poughkeepsie, he would act according to their wishes, as he 
could arrange to come there and at the same time look after 
the fortifications intrusted to him by Washington. The Doc- 
tor suggests that we see the Proceedings of Council of Safety 
for November 27, 1777, but as it is all written out here plain 
enough, I see no reason why we should go further : — 

"I Cadwallader Colden Esq. Do solemnly Promise unto 
Charles DeWitt & Gouverneur Morris, a Committee of the 
Council of Safety of the State of New York by the Councill 
afors'd appointed to mark out and Settle the Limits and Re- 
strictions by which I Shall be Confin'd, upon my Enlargement 
from the fleet prison, that I will forthwith repair to the House 
of Cap'n Van Deusen, at Hurley, and will not go more than 



HURLEY. 39 

two miles from said House without Permission of his Excel- 
lency George Clinton Esq. the gov'r of the said state, That so 
long as I shall Continue Confined as aforesaid, I will not by 
writing word or deed Do or be Privy to any acct matter or 
thing whatsoever to Promote the Interest Jurisdiction Claim 
or Authority of the King or Parliament of Great Britain in or 
over any Part of North America, And I pray God to help me 
as I shall keep this my Solemn Oath & Engagement. C. C. 

Sworn at Kingston in the County of Ulster 
this 3rd day of Sep'b 1777 
Gouv'r Morris 
Ch. D. Witt." 

The Doctor thinks he has laid the Senate House ghost with 
so simple a contrivance as a wooden door latch. The unseen 
hand on the latch of the "Antiquarium" door has caused many 
a cool draught of Winter air to come between the Doctor and 
his wife, and he has fled to evils that he knows not of by re- 
moving the old iron latch which sufficed his predecessors and 
substituting therefor a contrivance made of wood, and this 
does seem to work. 

Just what are the properties of a wooden latch that make 
it proof against the unseeable, or what kind of a charm the 
Doctor worked into this particular latch, I know not. The 
Doctor has made a study of these things and his knowledge is 
past belief, but what fears me is the thought that the Senate 
House ghost may attempt some other mode of keeping the 
household informed of its presence and that the last state of 
the old house may be worse than the first. 

Not every one can have a ghost about his home; it is a 
sign of respectability that no money can buy, and the Doctor 



40 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

had best beware. We know that the building is much above 
a hundred and fifty years of age, and it is reasonable to sup- 
pose that the ghost may think it has some rights that a wooden 
latch has no business to interfere with. 

The old hotel in Hurley is no more. On March i8, 1909, 
about 5 in the morning the village was aroused with the cry 
of fire, but the discovery was made too late and soon nothing 
but the crumbling stone walls remained of this historic build- 
ing. 

The hotel was erected in 17 16. 

The early courts were held here. 

It was the rallying point for patriotic meetings during 
Revolutionary times. 

General-Governor George Clinton had his headquarters 
here when he attempted to aid Kingston in October, 1777. 

The members of the Council of Safety resided here when 
the Council met in the Van Dusen house. 

When General Washington passed through Hurley on his 
way to Kingston, November 16, 1782, the President of the 
village delivered from the safe shelter of the hotel porch the 
address of welcome, while the distinguished (I had almost 
said extinguished) visitor sat his horse bareheaded in the rain, 
which example his staff were under the necessity of following, 
though they no doubt, like the gentleman mentioned in 
Psalms, blessed with their mouth while they cursed inwardly. 

We soon started out for a pleasant morning with the 
Daisies and other wild things that lurk in the nooks and cor- 
ners of Hurley' suburbs, and followed a footpath across the 
fields to the western hills and along the sinuous roadway at 
their feet until Vollicher Falls came into view — merely a 
thread of water that leaps into the cosiest little basin, and af- 



HURLEY. « 

ter stopping to get breath trickles away in a little brook that 
our Irish setter nearly swallowed whole. There may be times 
when more water adds to the excitement, but nothing could 
well add to the peaceful delight of the spot. Continuing on 
we came to the stone road that carries the westing Kingston- 
ians back into the hills. Then we marched back again and a 
bit later found ourselves moving south over this same road, 
catching glimpses of distant Mohonk and of the valley of the 
"Dug Road", interspersed with gleaming little brooks, old 
stone houses, clumps of Meadow Rue and other floral fan- 
tasies until we came to the Judge Elting house, the object of 
our afternoon journey. This was "The Depot at Marbletown" 
established by Governor George Clinton in May, 1779. As 
early as October, 1777, says "Olde Ulster", the Governor had 
determined to estabHsh a storehouse and magazine at Mar- 
bletown to deposit military supplies, not too far from the 
river and near enough to the frontiers to be available in their 
defense, but while goods were distributed about the neighbor- 
hood they were not collected under guard until after the at- 
tack on Fantine Kill showed the necessity for such action, 
when the house of Andries De Witt was selected for the depot 
and a guard placed at night. 

We found the lady of the house very willing to show us 
its interesting points. The Doctor is much like Aladdin's 
lamp in these parts, all one has to do is to rub him — the right 
way, of course; though any old way seems to be the right 
way — and lo the doors open and the hearts of the people with 
them and we are shown the treasures of the past with a glad- 
ness that makes them doubly attractive. We also found the 
most inquisitive lot of calves around the outer walls that ever 
v/ere blessed with a propensity to investigate. They crowded 



42 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

around the cameras, felt in our pockets and stepped on our 
feet with all the abandon of youth ; in fact, one had to draw 
the attention of our curious friends while the other took the 
picture. It was quite evident that they had not been nurtured 
in the fear of man. 

Hurley appears to have been stocked with real witches 
from a very early date, but as in all such matters, innocent 
persons will occasionally be suspected. The Hurleyites, how- 
ever, used no such crude methods as did the good and gra- 
cious Pilgrim Fathers — here was no cutting off of ears, nor 
is there record that the ducking-stool was used to settle the 
vexed question. The method employed with Betsey Conway is 
illustrative and, while quite as efficacious, left no unpleasant 
after effects so far as could be observed. 

Betsey lived in a log hut near the watering trough on the 
Wynkoop property, other side of the creek, and was strongly 
suspected of being a witch. One day while calling at the 
home of Cornelius Hotaling, a daughter of the house placed 
salt under her chair. Now a true witch under such circum- 
stances is helpless, and when Betsey arose when the time came 
to go and without difficulty left the house she should have 
cleared her fair fame of the imputation, but folks will talk. 

Another and instantly effective way of settling the matter 
was to stick a pin in the bottom of a chair in which the sus- 
pected person sat. Under such circumstances the witch is 
held fast and wholly unable to move, while the innocent per- 
son proves the fact promptly and to the great gladness of the 
assembled company. The writer can testify that he has never 
to his knowledge seen a witch sit on a pin. 

Sometimes unsuspected witches would be accidentally dis- 
covered as when an uncle of a local luminary, while hunting, 



HURLEY. 43 

discovered a large deer which he shot at without result, ex- 
cept that the animal, no doubt having the Biblical injunction in 
mind, turned the other side toward the hunter who, then sus- 
pecting where the trouble lay, found a bit of silver in his 
pocket with which he loaded his gun, and this time hit the 
game, only to lame it, however, when immediately a person in 
the neighborhood went lame, thereby proving that she was a 
dear, I suppose. 

There was a time when I used to go hunting myself, and in 
those day was notorious for shooting at bewitched deer. It 
would have helped my sporting reputation immensely had I 
only known where the trouble lay and the simple remedy 
therefor, but that has nothing to do with the subject-matter 
in hand. 

On another occasion a neighbor, though a good shot, 
missed several times while attempting to bring dovm a hawk, 
until some one told him to try a silver bullet, and with this he 
killed the bird instantly. About this time an old woman who 
was believed to be a witch, died, thus proving that she had 
taken possession of the hawk and that the silver bullet killed 
her as well as the bird. Sounds almost like a case of absent 
treatment, does it not? 

It was a common trick of the witches to cast a spell over 
the guns of hunters, and no one thought of venturing out for 
game without at least one silver bullet in his pouch. 

But these meddlesome and altogether no-account persons 
caused trouble indoors as well as out. Aunt Jane Elmendorf 
was so hindered in her churning on one occasion that the but- 
ter would not come, no matter how much of a dashed time it 
had, until she was finally compelled to put a horseshoe on the 



44 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

bottom of the chum, whereupon, the charm broken, the but- 
ter promptly came. 

Doctor Jacob Brink, of Katrine, was the witch doctor for 
all this region. He and his sons were also called "finger doc- 
tors" from their success in curing diseases by the laying on 
of hands. I can recall with painful distinctness how they used 
to try that on me when I was a small boy, and how they 
firmly believed that the result was beneficial, though the proc- 
ess never in the least had my approval. 

On account of the machinations of the witches and of the 
obstacles placed in his way, no ordinary person was able to 
summon a witch doctor — only a seventh son could overcome 
the difficulties. Such a one was Jacob Bonesteel, of West 
Hurley, but even he at times met with vast opposition. On 
one occasion he became mixed up with fences in most inextri- 
cable fashion, was caught and held by trees and generally had 
a most bothersome experience. The writer believes that he 
recalls having read in a history of witches and marvels, en- 
titled "The Thousand and One Nights", how witches were 
sometimes confined in bottles, and escaping on the removal 
of the cork caused great confusion and entanglement with 
fence posts and things, causing said posts to place themselves 
directly in the path of the bewitched person and to deliberately 
collide with him, but we must get back to Jacob Bonesteel; 
my tendency appears to be to wander. 

Jacob finally reached the doctor who, coming out, wrote a 
few lines on a bit of paper, waved his hands, and the traveling 
thereafter was so easy as to become positively monotonous. 

A cardinal point to remember, once the witch doctor had 
been sent for, was to allow no one in the room, as the witch 
could and would enter with a visitor and, once inside, could 



HURLEY. 45 

negative any good the doctor might attempt. Of course she 
could have been kept out by a broom placed across the door- 
way, but no one seems to have thought of that. In the par- 
ticular case in hand a child was the victim, and while Jacob 
was dodging the fences, trees and other sirens of the highway, 
a neighbor called and in this way the witch was let in, who 
thereupon remarked "Auntie has come to see you", and when 
the witch doctor came he discovered the situation and told the 
relatives that he could do nothing beyond punishing the witch, 
which he proceeded to do to the great satisfaction of the 
family by cutting the child's shirt with his whip, explaining 
that just so many times as he hit the shirt did the witch re- 
ceive strokes upon her back. It has not been learned whether 
the child was at the time within the shirt or not. 

A sister of an uncle of a true believer was cured of a fever 
sore on her leg by a "finger doctor", who rubbed the spot 
gently and at the same time repeated an incantation, which 
caused the sore to entirely disappear. We have finger doctors 
even to-day, but I believe they are now called osteopaths. 

Doctor Brink was the only one who could kill a witch 
without the use of a silver bullet, though he could delegate 
this power to others. Otherwise the witches "dried up and 
blowed away" — such was the fate of an old witch that once 
lived in Beaverkill. 

The mother of our friend Jacob Bonesteel was once sitting 
quietly in the house when on a sudden she found she could 
not move; then entered a witch who had been bothering the 
boys at hog killing outside and said to her the magic words 
"come on", and the old lady moved without difficulty. No 
Christian Scientist could have made a better job of it. Every 
one knows what an obstinate thing a hog is, but not every one 



46 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

knows how doubly-dyed is its obstinacy when bewitched. The 
boys were killing hogs, but they finally came to one who, like 
Achilles, had been made invulnerable at all points but one, 
and that one was hot water — it is well to remember that no 
witch can stand hot water — and after exhausting all other 
methods, they were compelled to resort to scalding, before 
which no hog, bewitched or otherwise, can stand. It is a well 
known fact, established by the traditions of the fathers, that 
it does not do to slaughter a hog in the wane of the moon, 
for then the fairies take all the fat for their lamps, while the 
farmer gets all the lean. Sounds rather like Mother Goose, 
but facts are stubborn things. 

There is yet living a woman who can bear testimony to 
the disconcerting effects of being bewitched. When a girl she 
lived with Domine Blauvelt, of West Hurley, and for a time 
when she was in the house, the good man experienced great 
trouble in his household. Everything was mixed up. His gold 
spectacles were found in the stove, as was a silver thimble; 

Note — To cure warts. Take green bean leaves; place on the afflicted 
part and then lay the leaves under a stone and as they rot the wart will dis- 
appear ; if it does not disappear that is evidence that the leaves or some- 
thing were (or was) too gjreen. Or, take a piece of pork and place it on the 
wart ; then throw same over the left shoulder, using the left hand for the 
purpose, closing the left eye and placing the tongue in the left cheek during 
the operation. When the pork rots the wart will disappear. If in this case 
the wart does not disappear that is a sign that some dog found the pork. 

An old Hurley cure for fits. Take 9 drops of blood from the right ear of a 
cat and administer to the patient. 

In order to bewitch a person the witch must borrow 3 separate articles 
from the to-be-bewitched. 

A witch track placed on the bottom of a churn was a 5 pointed star ; if this 
was of no effect a red-hot horseshoe was tried. 



HURLEY. 47 

the sugar bowl was discovered in the woodbox, handfuls of 
dust in the milk pans, and such a general mixedness was there 
that the Domine was at his wits' end. Finally suspicion fell 
on the maid, who was watched and caught in the act, when 
she admitted that her grandmother had put a spell on her. 
She was then hurried to the witch doctor and cured, and to- 
day is living the orderly life of a respectable married woman 
with an abundance of small children. 

The following is one of those simple, old-time receipts that 
were so efficient in the days of our grandfathers, and it seems 
to me worth preserving. The chest from which it has lately 
been taken had not been opened for years and this was with 
other papers dating back seventy-five to one hundred and 
fifty years. The informant of the gentleman who forwarded 
this and whose intelligence led him to at once see the value of 
the document states that in his early days such a cure, or at 
least a similar one, was frequently used. The paper is quoted 
literally : — 

"A Cure for the Spavin : : last f riday of the last quarter of 
the moon, take the head of the horse to the east ; begin on the 
left side of the horse and take a piece of every foot, of the frog, 
then goe around the horse to were you begin and take a bit of 
hair by the shoulder end by the hip and goe a round to weare 
you begin then take a bit of hair of the curie of head and put it 
in a paper together, the frog first then the hair and make a 
3 quarter fold and put the paper in it and plug it shut in and 
sweet apple tree to the east side of the tree befour sun rise 
whithout speaking a word." 

A certain Hurleyite is the possessor of a stone that is lo- 
cally regarded as an Indian effort at carving an Indian head 



48 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

with a feather head-dress, which was found on the flats at the 
foot of the graveyard many years ago by John L. Elmendorf. 

Inquiry of the Peabody Museum in Boston elicits the state- 
ment that it is a "slick" stone, used by the Indians in working 
down thongs and also in preparing various fibres for strings 
and sinew thread. 

The Smithsonian Institution responds to the same question 
that it is of that class known as "whetstones", and while it 
may have been used for dressing thongs, it was more prob- 
ably employed in grinding down other objects of stone. The 
stone is possibly a half-inch thick, is three and eleven-six- 
teenth inches long by two and one-half inches at the widest 
point. 

Advertisement from the Ulster County Gazette, July lo, 
1802 : — 

"Notice is hereby given 

"That the remaining seats in the Church of Hurley will be 
sold at public vendue on Saturday the tenth day of July. 
Those persons who have subscribed with an interest to pur- 
chase seats will be pleased to take particular notice that if 
they neglect to purchase at this time, they will be debarred 
hereafter, as the seats not sold at this vendue will be disposed 
of in another manner. 

"All those who are in arrears by Subscription, or for Seats 
purchased in said church will please to settle the same with- 
out delay, with Mr. Egbert Roosa. 

"The vendue to begin at two o'clock P. M. on said day and 
due attendance given by the Consistory. 

"Hurley, June 31, 1802." 

The good book tells us that there is no new thing under the 
sun, and Hurley helps to prove the rule. In those parts of the 



HURLEY. 49 

country which run open street cars in Summer there has de- 
veloped a species of biped known as the "end-seat hog", which 
we believe is generally regarded as a modern development due 
to changed environment. But it seems that Hurley was the 
better part of a hundred years ahead of the rest of the coun- 
try, as witness the following official document of the Hurley 
Church — that church which formerly stood over against the 
Senate House: — 

Among the "Miscellaneous Acts of the Consistory" is — 

"An Act of the Consistory of the Congregation of Hurley 
For the better Regulating the Seats of the Church of Said 
place. 

"Whereas some difficulties have arisen with respect to the 
Rights of Different Individuals who have Purchased Seats 
upon the same bench in said Church, with respect to the ex- 
tent and distinction of Their Rights. 

"Consistory wishing therefore to do away all misunder- 
standing upon this Subject, and to restore & maintain Perfect 
harmony among the Proprietors of said Seats do declare that 
the first principle upon Which the Seats were sold and the 
Deeds given was that there was never to be Any distinction of 
the Seats of Individuals upon their respective Benches and that 
Such Individuals were Proprietors in Common of Said 
Benches Possessing undivided rights Corresponding in exact 
proportion to the Number of Seats they purchased And that 
Said proprietors had no Right Conveyd. to them by virtue of 
Said Deeds Ever to Choose any particular part of any Bench 
or pew Purchased as above. 

"The Consistory therefore Ordain as a Standing regulation 
of this Church as it respects Said Benches or Pews and the 
Rights of Individuals thereto, that the Person or Persons who 



50 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

Shall for the purpose of Divine Worship Enter into any of the 
Said Pews or Benches first after Comming to said Church 
Shall as soon as the other Proprietors or any of them may 
come for the purpose of Divine Worship to the door or doors 
of any of Said Pews or Benches, Immediately move up on the 
Bench So as to give room for the other Proprietors So that 
their shall be no passing by one another or crowding or 
justling in Said Seats which is always indecent in the house 
of God and very offensive to the true worthiness of the most 
High. 

"This Resolution however Shall not be Considered repug- 
nant to any agreement that now or may hereafter Exist among 
individuals Provided Such Agreement is consistent with or- 
der and Decency By order of the Consistory. 

Hurley (signed) Thomas G Smith Preses 

26 Decembr. 1806." 

When the British burned Kingston there was naturally a 
good deal of fear of the "Red Coats" among those who loved 
peace. The following two or three stories are taken from a 
little book entitled "Rachel Dumont", published in 1890: — 

A field of rye had just been cut in Hurley, but when it was 
known that Kingston was burning the workmen dropped their 
tools and left the half raked grain to care for itself. Thus a 
rake lay with the teeth up, on which a young farmer, crossing 
the field, happened to step, when the handle promptly flew up 
and hit him a hard and sudden blow on the nose, whereupon 
he immediately threw up his hands and yelled "Hurrah for 
King George". 

The day following the arrival of the American soldiers in 
Hurley the usual "noon gun" was fired. Pompey, a slave in 
one of the refugee families, although he had done much boast- 



HURLEY. 51 

ing as to what would happen to the Britishers if he ran foiil 
of them, hearing this gun., rushed into the farmhouse, exclaim- 
ing:— 

"Lord Massy: dem Britishers am comin' agin I Good Mr. 
Lordie, spare dis poor fambly, an' de niggers, too. Ole Gran- 
nie, she's ole an' sick, an' wan's to die ; so take her fust, if 
yer mus' heab some un. An dad he can go wid her fer com- 
p'ny. Pompey has too many wimmen an" childers to take care 
ob ; he can't be spar'd jes' yet." 

Then he hid in a great barrel of potatoes, where he was 
found some hours later by his father, who came for potatoes. 
and who exclaimed : — 

"Lor's a massy, wot's yer doin' in dis tater barl? Has 
yer been about su&n* orful wicked agr'in and feard de good 
Lordl cotch yer? Come out, yer nigger, an don't spile all dem 
new taters.''' 

"Oh. daddie, I done thort dem Red Coats was comin' and 
Fs so afeared dty take yer an ole Grarmie dat I come in de 
cella' to fire at dem trjegh de trap doer. Am dey come?" re- 
sponded the %-aliant Pompey. 

"No. no, chile — de good Lorll tak car of poor cle Daddie 
and Grannie ; yer's a bra%'e boy. Pompey. to 'fend yer "ations, 
an s'all hab a big piece of water mellin fer yer dinner fer not 
fergettin' the old folks, Pomp>ey. some niggers is jes' like 
white folks an' jes' looks out fer der own sef s. But yer is a 
waryer an' no mistake." 

In an old accotmt book wheat is spelled as follows : Wett, 
weat, wheate. weate, whitt, whaet. wheat, witt and weett. 
Those were the good old days when every man was his own 
dictionary. We are not one bit happier to-day. if we are more 
precise over minor maruers. It was a favorite sayin.g of my 



52 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

father that it was a poor word that could not be spelled more 
than one way, which leads me to think that wheat must be a 
multi-millionaire. And in this same class can Hurley itself 
be placed for old records give it to us as Hurly, Horli, hor- 
rely, Hurrely, Horly and Horley. 

Here follows an advertisement from the Ulster County 
Gazette of October 26, 1799, the reason for which is not alto- 
gether evident to me, unless the advertiser proposed to sell 
his horses to unsophisticated New York: — 

ULSTER COUNTY GAZETTE. October 26, 1799. 
(Advertisement) 
"Wanted to purchase 
a few fat Dutch 
Horses 
If they are TWENTY and shew for SEVEN they will an- 
swer. None need apply after ten days from date hereof. 
Hurley, October 18, 1799. (Signed) Eli Sears." 

So far back that I do not know just when it was. Hurley 
boasted one of the few militia companies in uniform, and be- 
cause of the color of the uniform, and for no other reason 
whatever, this company was known as the "Hurley Greens" — 
they were not vegetables, mind yon, but men of war. 

Now, during the anti-rent war in a neighboring county, the 
Hurley Greens were ordered out for police duty, but the mem- 
bers did not like to be used in such a cause and it took a sum- 
mons from the Sheriff to get them into line. Finally some of 
them went, and on arrival at the seat of war were placed on 
sentry duty the first night. 

The password for that night was "moon". During the 
hours of darkness one of our valiant friends was greatly per- 
turbed by a person approaching through the bushes, and they 



HURLEY. 53 

do say his teeth rattled some; but still the stranger ap- 
proached without offering to give the countersign until he 
of Hurley could stand it no longer, and blurted out: "Say 
'moon', damn you, or I'll shoot", whereupon the approaching 
stranger kindly said "moon" and all was peace. 

A certain neighbor who lives out on the Marbletown road 
is a devout Christian, but somewhat practical withal. During 
a long continued drought the Domine happened to remark 
to this good brother that he thought it advisable to pray for 
rain, to which the deacon responded: "That's all right, 
Domine ; but you'd better v/ait for the new moon." 

A few specimens of English from an old Hurley account 
book : — 

Anno Domini, 1756. £ s d 

I peare Shouse Meade for your wife 00. 6.0 

1 peare Shouse petch for your Neger Jough. . .00. 3.0 

2 deays Riding with horses and wagen au Do. .00.18.0 

3 bearlears of Syder at the press at 8s i. 4.0 

1 peare of Shouse Meade for your Neger 
Whinch Gin 00. 6.0 

Another account, 1757: — £ s d 

2 Schiples of Weet at 4s. per Sch'pl 00 8.0 

to 1-6 an Agys (eggs) o. 1.6 

4 Ells of humspon for apetecot 0.12.0 

Credit 

by making a Chist that is a Coffin for our 

Whinch 00. 4.0 

Another account. £ s d 

to Maind My teecatel 00. 1.6 

fixing bagnet to a gone 

by Making a Cock to my Gone 00. 9.0 

2 hug Seds I. 4.0 

1775 to 4 broms I geir corn for to the ingines.. .00. 2.0 



54 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

West Hurley once boasted of a citizen who was on the 
town and proposed to stay there. He became such a thorn in 
the side of those who were compelled to care for him and his 
that many attempts were made to bring him to a sense of his 
position, but all without effect. Finally his neighbors con- 
cluded to try a scare, and announced to the old fellow that as 
he was entirely useless on this earth they were intending to 
bury him on a certain day, to which he readily assented. 

The threat, not having the hoped-for effect, his friends 
next procured a pine coffin, proceeded to the house and in- 
formed lazy-bones that they had come to attend his funeral. 
Even this failed to stimulate to activity, and they then placed 
the old chap in the coffin and proceeded. Well, they had not 
counted on any such ready acquiescence to the proceedings, 
and were much perplexed as to the final outcome and, in the 
hope that something might develop which would arouse their 
burden to a sense of his shortcomings, they stopped each pass- 
ing neighbor and explained in a loud tone and with many 
words what was being done. 

Each moment matters became more and more desperate, 
until finally one was stopped who, on hearing the story, said 
"Put him down boys, I have a couple bushels of corn that 
he can have and that ought to be a start toward something 
better". Up to this point the corpse-to-be had shown no in- 
terest in the proceedings, but now he raised up and inquired 
if the com was shelled, to find that it was not, whereupon he 
lay back and said "go on boys, it ain't no use". 



MARBLETOWN, STONE RIDGE AND ACCORD. 



MARBLETOWN, STONE RIDGE AND ACCORD. 

After a night spent under the roof of the Senate House, I 
was fitted out with a pocket full of lunch and the Doctor and 
the "dorg" went along as far as the next (the fourth) mile- 
stone. And now that the milestone is past and my com- 
panion has turned back, I ^m inclined to tell on him. The 
Doctor has a wife who is a great Bible student, nor does she 
mind getting one on her husband when an opening occurs, 
thus she not infrequently quotes holy writ at him and at least 
one such quotation is, it seems to me, worth recording for the 
benefit of those who do not search the scriptures daily. It is 
to be found in 2 Chronicles, XVI., 12-13, and reads as follows: 
"And Asa, in the thirty and ninth year of his reign, was 
diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great ; yet 
in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. 
And Asa slept with his fathers." 

Before we can possibly get away from the village one sees 
a dab of green paint that proved to be one of the interesting 
old Hurley houses — or was it blue paint, my chief recollec- 
tion is that it was some kind of a blot on the landscape. This 
is where the first Masonic lodge for this locality was estab- 
lished and that is why we stop and look at it. Asking for a 
drink I was sent to the spring which boils out of the bank of 
the Esopus at the rate of a barrel a minute, it was ever5rthing 
that a spring should be; refreshing both to the eye and 



56 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

throat and having been told where to find the cocoanut shell 
cup among the roots of an old tree, I helped myself. 

"Yes, fountain of Bandusia, 

Posterity shall know 
The cooling brooks that from thy nooks 

Singing and dancing go." 

Sink holes in a limestone country are by no means un- 
common. Opposite the second milestone out of Kingston is 
one in a field. Another opposite the fourth milestone was re- 
cently discovered by a cow of roving disposition, whereupon 
our bovine explorer hoisted her tail over the spot, much as 
explorers of old planted the King's standard and, like an old 
knight, she bravely gave her life to the cause, for when the 
farmer saw the signal she had raised he found his cow wedged 
head down in the rocks and as dead as Caesar, though not 
quite so dusty. 

The day was something warm, the air full of the smell of 
growing things. A delightful breeze kept me company down 
the road, but unfortunately it was traveling my way and at 
about my gait, and I only knew of the fact because the trees 
were waving to it a welcome. To my way of thinking a blow 
in the face had been better than to have so softly kept me 
company. 

The old Pawling house soon came along and I stepped 
over into Marbletown. Then there was the Esopus where it 
bumps into the highway, a tent among the alders on the other 
side and a canoe drawn up on the shore suggested camping 
and fishing and doing nothing, and most anything else that a 
tent and a canoe and a pleasant little river might suggest. 

Here was the sixth milestone, and about three-quarters of 
a mile beyond, or just before the seventh milestone is reached. 



MARBLETOWN, STONE RIDGE AND ACCORD. 57 

in the village of Marbletown, stands a famous old tree, on land 
owned by Louis Bevier. This is within a few feet of the north 
fence in the bend of the old road; a new cut-off here leaves 
it still further afield. 

This is an ancient landmark, so ancient that it is said to 
have been a noted mark on the old Indian trail from the 
Esopus to the country of the Delawares. A great, solid 
chestnut tree that is estimated to be over five hundred years 
of age. A singular feature is a white elm which at the base 
is entirely surrounded by the spreading trunk of the chestnut. 
About eighteen inches from the ground the elm springs from 
the trunk of the older tree as a branch might, there being no 
indication of a split in the chestnut trunk. Five feet from the 
ground the elm and chestnut, in close apposition, measure 
twenty-two feet three inches in circumference, the elm being 
probably thirty inches in circumference. 

The great age and size of the tree, its historic interest and 
the remarkable singularity of the growth combine to make 
this of more than passing interest. 

Many years ago Marbletown was visited by a great wind 
which demolished the church. All the congregation turned 
out at the rebuilding, even Domine Davis lending a hand in 
the good work. 

While thus engaged a certain man from Hurley came to 
view the operations, and remarked in a casual sort of way 
that it seemed to him significant that the church of God 
should thus be destroyed in Marbletown while no harm had 
come to that in Hurley. To this the Domine retorted, "Well, 
you know that there are some people that even God Almighty 
will have nothing to do with". 

Now we have the house of the widow Davis, tavern and 



58 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

town hall along about 1680 or so. Then the road climbs a 
hill from which one can look down on and wave a farewell 
to the Esopus, for we separate here, while across the level 
bottom lands, green with the coming crops, and beyond the 
tops of nearby hills is spread a grand panorama of the Cats- 
kills — a multitude of peaks. The buzz of a wandering bee be- 
come dainty through an excess of riches helped to emphasize 
the fact that the day was warm. 

In the midst of the wonderful picture is the Summer home 
of Mrs. L. E. Schoonmaker, who owns the old Depue house 
in Accord that we are coming to shortly. 

Now it is Stone Ridge, in the early days known as "Butter- 
fields", where are the Hardenburg house, a one-night stand of 
General Washington, and the Tack house, in which court was 
held after the burning of Kingston by the British. 

At a very early date Aart Pietersen Tack came to this 
country and was one of the pioneer settlers of Wiltwick. 
Here a son Cornelius was bom, but some time later the father 
appears to have made a move in the wrong direction, and with 
the aid of the courts his wife became Tackless. The lady then 
married a Van Etten and henceforth has nothing to do with 
our story. Cornelius in due time had a son Jacobus, and he a 
son Cornelius, and he again a son Johannes, and the house 
that Tack built is supposed to have been erected by this 
Johannes some time before the Revolution. 

A great-grandson of Johannes tells me that when he was a 
boy the overhead floor beams showed incisions of bayonets and 
marks of gun muzzles; that the attic, which was then one 
long room, was known as the "Lodge Room" because the Ma- 
sons held their meetings here. 

The house was run as an inn by Johannes and by his widow, 



MARBLETOWN, STONE RIDGE AND ACCORD. 59 

Sarah, after him, she being succeeded by their son John, who 
continued the business until nearly 1830. There is a tradition 
that on the occasion of Washington's visit at the Wynkoop 
house in 1783 the members of his staff stopped at the Tack 
house, as the place was a tavern and directly opposite to 
the Wynkoop house, I should say that we might accept the 
tradition without straining our swallow to any extent. At 
Hurley December 9, 1777, an order was given to apprehend 
certain men seen at Jacks Tavern in Stoneridge carrying out 
leather to Bethlehem, Pa. 

The road works over a ridge and loses the Catskills, but 
Shawangunk looms large ahead and Mohonk keeps to the 
front as though the Smileys knew how to run the land- 
scape as well as they do a hotel; in fact Mohonk has been 
sticking up in the middle of things off and on ever since yes- 
terday and continues to do so for the better part of another 
twenty-four hours, as I discovered to-morrow. 

Shawangunk was originally the name of a specific place 
from which it has been extended to cover the mountain Chau- 
wanghungh, Chawangon, Chauwangung, Showangunck. The 
name has been applied to the mountain and stream since the 
second Esopus war. It may mean "at, or on, the side hill". 
The Indian palisaded village called "New Fort", and later 
Shawongunk Fort was on the brow of a tract of table land on 
the east bank of the Shawangunk Kill. 

Mohonk may mean "a great tree". The name was origi- 
nally applied to a spot at or near the foot of the hill, and later 
spread to the hill itself. The correct Indian name was prob- 
ably Maggeanapogh, meaning "a great rock". These, as are 
most of my other explanations of Indian names, are taken from 
"Indian Geographical Names", by Mr. E. M. Ruttenber. 



eO THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

Finally the road forks beyond Stone Ridge, where the 12- 
mile stone shows the way. That at the left leads straight 
down to Kyserike on the other side of the Rondout. 

A good many years ago, when Jay Gould had yet his for- 
tune to make, was a country surveyor in Ulster County and 
was doing most any job that promised bread and butter, he 
was well known up and down these roads. In later life when 
he was accounted a rich man, one who knew his history ac- 
cused him of still owing a shoemaker in Kyserike a small 
amount for repairing his shoes in the early days, but Gould 
responded that this could not be so, as he always repaired his 
own shoes in those days. 

Kyserike is modern, and never was on the Old Mine Road 
anyway, so we will keep to the straight road and worry down 
to the Rondout at Accord. Here stands the old Depue house 
on a brook that the map tells us is Peters Kill, but which is 
locally known as Monesauing Creek. 

The old Depue house is nearly two hundred years old, 
built by Moses, who came to Rochester a boy in 1662. He 
bought the property of the Indians, and it has never since 
been out of the family, Katie Depue being the last to actually 
occupy the old home; she died January 31, 1884. The above 
is from Mrs. L. E. Schoonmaker, nee Depue, who turned to 
the old family Bible for names and dates. 

The old house never saw any very exciting times, so far 
as is known. The only Indian incident is related of one Joseph 
Depue, whose mother understood the Indian language and, 
when she heard an Indian, who had been around looking for 
her son, vow that he would kill him, the old lady sent a col- 
ored boy to warn the young man and it is handed down in the 
family that Joseph saw the Indian first. 



MARBLETOWN, STONE RIDGE AND ACCORD. 61 

Rondout is generally taken to have come from a small fort 
or redoubt built at its mouth. Mr. Ruttenber writes that after 
the erection of a stockaded redoubt here the Dutch called the 
place Rondhout, which may mean "standing timber". 

John James Schoonmaker, better known as "John Jim", is 
one of those mortals who likes to know who his grandmother 
was, and incidentally has picked up much local information, 
having been town clerk these many years, and he has studied 
the old records which, thanks to his good care, have been put 
in savable condition. The first Schoonmaker was Hendrick 
Jochemse S., a native of Hamburg, Germany, who settled in 
Albany before 1655. He kept an inn and was a man of means 
as he is reputed to have loaned money to Governor Stuyve- 
sant. Was among those who came to Esopus in 1659 to assist 
the whites in repelling the advances of the reds, was attracted 
by the richness of the lands and settled permanently in the 
region. Naturally I found my way to the Schoonmaker house 
and Mr. S. opened the safe and took out the old records for 
my inspection. They are beautifully written and very easy 
reading, at least so are the earliest of the writings, the first 
entry beginning: — 

"To all christian people to whome this present 
writing shall or may come Coll. Henry Beekman, 
Capt. Jochem Schoonmaker & Mosys Du Puy the 
present trustees of all the land of the town of Roch- 
ester in County of Ulster send greeting. Whereas 
there is a general pattent obtained for all of the land 
of sd town of Rochester", etc., etc. 

"this 22d of Sept. 1703." 

The two volumes bring the records down to the time of 
the D. & H. Canal, 1828, or thereabout. 



62 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

One of the curiosities of the old books is the fact that no- 
where is the old-style letter s used, but invariably the modern 
form. At first our road is mentioned as the "Queen's high- 
way", but by 1 718 it is the "King's Highway". 

The recording of these deeds was in many cases for peo- 
ple who had been settled in the town for some time, for in 
September, 1703, mention is made of a "corne" mill on Mom- 
baccus (old spelling) Kill or "Rivelett". 

The temporary character of boundary marks is illustrated 
over and over again, as "Beginning at a great Black oak tree 
standing in a dry gully by the Rondout Kill or River side 

* * * and runs in woods by a line of marked trees * * 

* along the highway to a marked white oak tree and so from 
thence to a marked 'Nutton' tree standing on the east side of 
Munasanink brook", etc., and again "Beginning at a white 
oak tree marked Standing on the northside of the east Sproute 
of a Certain Runn of water called the M udder Kill", or we 
have "a small white oak tree marked with three notches and 
a cross over them". 

Where Mattacahonts Kill flows into Mombaccus Kill is 
now Mill Hook. An early owner of the water power here 
was a Quick, possibly an ancestor of the famous Tom; the 
bounds of his property are frequently mentioned in descrip- 
tions of adjoining grants. 

The first Hoornbeecks mentioned are Lodowyck or Lode- 
wick or Loodwyck, and Anthony; one or other owned the 
"corne" mill at the high "ffalls" of the Mombaccus, which is 
mentioned in September, 1703, and one or other is presumed 
to have built the old stone house, which stands south of the 
road about two miles west of the Accord bridge. 

"The Creek called Hoonck" is mentioned; possibly this is 



MARBLETOWN, STONE RIDGE AND ACCORD. 



63 



where we get Hunk or Honk Falls from. Johannis G. Hard- 
enberg was town clerk, 1704-5. His writing, while it looks 
smooth at first glance, is one of the most difficult to read in 
the book. In some cases the ink used has, where a heavy 
stroke is made, eaten the paper completely away. Mosys Du 
Puy's name suffers at the hands of various town clerks, who 
transcribe it without giving much heed to the facts. In one 
document it is Mosys du puy—on the very next page we have 
it as Moses Dupuy, and so on. 

The question of hogs and sheep was a live one, and many 
arc the rules made for their government. Fences were fifty- 
two inches high, English measure, and from that "hight" to 
the ground sufficient to turn cattle. 

Mombacus means in Dutch a "mask", a grotesque face, and 
the story is that early settlers found a rude face carved on a 
sycamore tree near the junction of the Mombacus and Ron- 
dout Kills, which is supposed to have recorded some victory 
for the local Indians. The town records of one hundred and 
fifty years ago refer to the bridge over the stream as "the 
great or high bridge across the Mombaccus Creek" as though 
it was the eighth wonder of the world. The government map 
ignores the old name and calls our Silent Face "Rochester 
Creek". 

Accord remembers a former citizen named Bell, who was 
apparently cracked in the making. Some twenty or twenty- 
five years ago he told how, having seen a bolt from heaven 
drop into the creek, he next morning investigated and discov- 
ered a sword sticking up out of the water, much as King 
Arthur found that "fair sword" Excalibur given to him by the 
Lady of the Lake, who in the history of le Mort D'Arthur, is 
called a "damosel", which spelling bringeth me immediately 



64 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

back to our friend Mr. Bell and twenty or twenty-five years 
ago. The sword was a two-handed affair and covered with 
rust, the removal of which disclosed strange figures of men 
and animals, much after the fashion of prehistoric scratchings. 
Bell evidently knew enough about metals to know that there 
was no alloy of iron and silver which would furnish the hard- 
ness and other qualities of his find and claimed that his celes- 
tial sword contained a large proportion of silver, an impossi- 
bility in any but a celestial sword. He then called in a chem- 
ist, in order to have a bit of the metal assayed and secure a 
certificate, should silver be found therein, wherewith he could 
confound and silence all doubters. In the chemist's presence 
he filed off an innocent looking piece from the guard which 
was sent to the laboratory to be put in the crucible, but the 
assayer, fearing that if an accident happened to the crucible 
the charge would be lost, cut the cube in two, expecting to 
make a duplicate assay. On cutting the piece, however, he 
found a small bit of silver which had been inserted through a 
hole bored in the iron, the external evidence of the job hav- 
ing been concealed with a coating of rust and gum. No cer- 
tificate was issued and the celestial sword went the way of the 
discovered fake. 

Mr. Bell appears to have never wearied in well doing oth- 
ers, for we next hear of him as lodging at Dannemora because 
of some little irregularity in connection with a deed to prop- 
erty that insisted on belonging to those who purchased it. 

If Bell had lived along the Esopus one might understand 
where he caught his bent, for that stream will get out of bed 
most any stormy night and steal land from nearby farmers. 
It is told how one man down in Hurley lost three acres last 
year, and the curious thing about it is that while every one 



MARBLETOWN, STONE RIDGE AND ACCORD. 65 

knows who the thief is no attempt whatever is made to appre- 
hend him, and so, grown bold by long immunity, the creek, 
like history, repeats itself when the mood takes it. 

As we progress on our way, we begin to hear of Indian 
foray and massacre, but the region immediately around Ac- 
cord, or Rochester as it was in the old days, appears to have 
been a sort of doldrums both during the French and Indian 
and the Revolutionary wars, for no serious trouble of that 
nature is recorded for these parts. 

The highway through Accord keeps in such close touch 
with the creek that it seems in danger at times of falling in, 
and no doubt would, were it not for the trees which so kindly 
keep watch and ward along the steep bank, but the creek is 
too crooked for any well ordered road to long keep in touch 
with, and we soon went a little way off. The old burial 
ground here, which probably dates back to 1703, offers a re- 
markable curiosity in a tombstone more than half buried in 
the trunk of a monarch of the forest; the tree has literally 
grown from one side to beyond the centre of the stone, so 
that less than half of the inscription can be read. 



66 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 



PINE BUSH, KERHONKSON AND WAWARSING. 

The Dutchmen seem almost from the very first to have 
built their houses of stone, and consequently there are many 
still standing that date back to the first settlement. As we 
approach Pinebush, some two miles beyond the Accord bridge, 
a long, low building is seen well back from and south of the 
road, known as the Morris Myers house. This is the old 
Hoornbeek place which it is claimed was a "fort" in the 
French and Indian war times. Here was dwelling at the time 
of my call Miss Esther Atkinson, who has charge of the vil- 
lage school, and who takes a very keen interest in matters 
historic. She immediately took me in charge for a trip around 
the house, and was even willing to frame herself in the old 
Dutch double door for the benefit of the camera, a very small 
Myers doing his or her share by standing on tip-toe to see 
over the top of the closed lower half what the camera was up 
to, and being caught in the act. 

This house, so my guide said, was attacked but once, the 
Indians approaching from the creek. In approaching thus 
over the fields they had no cover, and it is supposed did so 
on the theory that the defenders were away ; fortunately, how- 
ever, they were not only at home, but had been warned and 
provided such an unexpectedly hearty welcome that some of 
the visitors were quite overcome while still others shyly ran 
away. The house was not loopholed, but is said to have had- 



PINE BUSH, KERHONKSON AND WAWARSING. 67 

the same dormer windows in the roof that are there to-day, 
and it was from these that the defenders fired on the approach- 
ing foe. Such windows would seem to indicate that the house 
was of more than ordinary consequence, as the attic story 
was generally used for storage and only lighted from the ends, 
but the glass in the present windows has the iridescence that 
only comes with age and T^ears out the theory that they have 
been there from the beginning. 

This neighborhood is known as Pinebush, and in all 
prbbsibility the attack on the Hoornbeek house mentioned 
above was that of September 5th, 1778, when three houses 
were burned, two men killed and one taken prisoner. 

This July day was better for corn than for folks on foot 
and the dust was worse than the sunshine. Up above it early 
began to look like showers, and by i o'clock the hill folk were 
getting theirs, but the storm went off in the direction of Kings- 
ton, where was to be seen much thunder and lightning. By 
this time I had climbed the long hill out of Accord, had viewed 
the Hoornbeek house and had dropped down to the creek level 
to lunch on ice cream and snaps at Kerhonkson, an Indian ap- 
pellation the meaning of which does not seem to be known. 

It seems that John Kettle was murdered by the Indians 
near the east end of the Kerhonkson bridge, and for many 
years thereafter his ghost haunted the bridge on dark nights. 
There is an old gentleman still living in this neighborhood 
who bears testimony to the fact that in the early days several 
persons had seen Kettle's ghost on the bridge — there can be 
no doubt but that it was the ghost of Kettle and no other, be- 
cause those who saw the vision said it was. It must have 
been most inconvenient to meet a ghost midway of a covered 
bridge, and particularly when one could not be quite sure 



68 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

whether it was a ghost or a bit of surreptitious moonshine 
come in by way of a knothole, at least not sure of it until he 
got to the telling of it at the village store. 

About a mile further on and to be seen both from the old 
roadway which sticks close by the creek and from the new 
which parallels it a bit further back, stands the old Harden- 
bergh house "where the records were stored". When New 
York was certain of capture by the British the records of the 
colonial government were moved up the river to Kingston and 
"Olde Ulster" tells us that on October 12th, 1777, four days 
before the latter was burned by the invaders, the records were 
loaded on ten wagons and taken back into the country along 
our Old Mine Road and committed to the "care of Hendricus 
Hoornbeek, Comfort Sands and Johannis G. Hardenbergh, 
Esq., according to a Resolve of the Council of Safety for Said 
State of New York, and deposited in a room in the Harden- 
bergh dwelling, believed to be the north room, which is the 
one at the right of the illustration. The finish of the room, 
even in its present state of decay, indicates a building of su- 
perior construction. 

The capstone of the outer door bears the date of construc- 
tion, "1762", and the monograms of the family in which are 
letters for each syllable of the name Hardenbergh. Under the 
eaves on either side are three portholes. So long as the rec- 
ords were here the house was at all times under guard. 

"Hurley, December 17, 1777. Resolved that the State Rec- 
ords at Nepenagh be kept there under guard." 

Northwest of the house on the summit of Turkey Hill are 
the graves of the family, the horizontal stone which marks the 
grave of the old patriot being inscribed: — 



PINE BUSH, KERHONKSON AND WAWARSING. 69 

"In Memory of 

Johannis G. Hardenberg 

who departed this life 

April loth 1812 

Aged 80 Years 9 Mos. 17 days." 

The house where John Stall now lives was in early days 
the John Kettle home. The head of the house was caught 
outside by the Indians and scalped, but his son with John G. 
Hardenbergh and other neighbors who answered the call for 
help, successfully defended the place from further molestation. 

Wawarsing is another Indian name the meaning of which 
is not known, but again Mr. Ruttenber comes to the rescue 
with a suggestion that it may be from an Indian word meaning 
"at a place where the stream bends". The village is one long 
street, well lined with houses for a distance of a mile and a 
half; as we get well within the eastern end of the cluster an 
evidently old building on the left cannot help but attract at- 
tention. The immediate locality here is knov/n as Sockani- 
sank, or Socconessing, as it is more modernly pronounced. 
This is the old Indian name of the neighborhood and, accord- 
ing to Mr. Isaiah Rose, means waterhole, swamp, marsh, and 
any one with half an eye can see why it was applied. 

This old building, says Mr. David Crist, who is the local 
historian of these parts, represents three periods — 161 6, and 
two additions made in 1716 and 1783. The earlier date is 
something of a surprise, as it antedates the settling of Kings- 
ton by thirty-seven years. Mr. Crist calls this the Depue 
house, but does not know who built it. At the time of the 
Fantine Kill massacre, the Indians came this way, when the 
only occupants of the building are said by Mr. Crist to have 
been an old man and a boy of sixteen. The elder, of course, 



70 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

counseled caution and the saving of their fire until the enemy 
was close upon them, but the boy, with the impatience of 
youth, could not forbear taking a crack at a chief who was 
some distance in advance of the other Indians. Fortunately 
his aim was accurate and the chief immediately became a good 
Indian. Being a chief his companions picked up the body and 
retired to an Indian burial ground near the bank of the creek. 
On their return they evidently thought the house too well 
guarded for attack and passed it by. 

This oldest building in Wawarsing is pljumcd to be the 
birthplace of Governor De Witt Clinton. The birthplaces of 
this celebrated man are so numerous as to call for some com- 
ment, and as this is the first that we come to in our travels, it 
looks as though the comment was about due. But we do not 
wish to be understood as criticising the gentleman for it was 
really a matter entirely beyond his control. 

De Witt Clinton's father lived in Little Britain, not far 
from Newburgh, and some years ago, when the question of his 
birthplace was a matter of some acrimony, one Edward M, 
MacGraw of Plymouth, Wis., wrote to the Independent Re- 
publican in January, 1874, claiming that the event occurred in 
the home of General James Clinton, his father, because his 
(MacGraw's) mother told him so. Mr. MacGraw was bom 
and reared in Little Britain, and his parents knew the Clintons 
well and used to point out the residence as the birthplace of 
De Witt C, and that was satisfactory proof for him. 

Then there is the old darkey who claimed to have been a 
servant of De Witt Clinton, who in i38i was living in Hones- 
dale, Pa., and who was reported in a Port Jervis paper as hav- 
ing said "the Governor was born in Little Britain, Orange Co., 



PINE BUSH, KERKONKSON AND WAWARSING. 71 

and no mistake", and that settled it in the minds of those who 
favor Little Britain. 

New Windsor comes next on the list and here the building 
is still standing in which he was born, and that is proof enough 
for most folks down that way, who can see no use in arguing 
over a fact. A letter written to the Goshen Democrat in 1836 
said that by common report of the neighborhood, confirmed 
by the Clinton family, De Witt Clinton was born in New 
Windsor. 

And now we come to Wawarsing. Just across the high- 
way from "the oldest house" lives Mr. Benjamin Bruyn Rus- 
sell, whose mother, Elsie De Witt, was an own cousin of De 
Witt Clinton's mother, and consequently he has it very 
straight from one who knew all the circumstances that De 
Witt Clinton was bom in this old house. 

The fourth spot where this event happened is just across 
the Rondout from Napanoch, on the left as we traverise our 
Old Mine Road. The Napanochers point to the building, a 
low frame that looks too modern, and which is probably much 
like Mark Twain's jack-knife, though the cellar hole may be 
the same. The Hon. Thomas E. Benedict, who lives across the 
way, believes this to be the place, because he has talked with 
members of the De Witt family and all their traditions point 
to it. In 1873 and in 1881 the Ellenville Journal championed 
this as the Mecca toward which the devout should bend their 
steps. 

In Port Clinton is to be found the fifth and last place, so 
far as my discoveries go: Here, in February, 1769, in the 
sharp angle of the road at the top of the hill, stood the stone 
house or fort of Jacob R. De Witt, brother of Mrs. James Clin- 
ton, and here was De Witt C. also born. This is rather in the 



72 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

nature of a bare statement of fact. I have heard no arguments 
in its favor, except that the other fellows have not proved 
their cases, and here was a near relative at whose house the 
lady might easily have been staying when the event occurred. 

The story told to account for the fact that De Witt Clin- 
ton was born away from home is the same in each instance. 
General James and his lady had been visiting at the home of a 
relative, and just as they were about to return a great snow 
storm descended on the valley, which prohibited comfortable 
travel for months and detained the visitors long beyond the 
contemplated time. 

It looks to me as though the Governor was born again 
about four times, and while this is rather rough on his mother, 
I hardly see how we can help it or how the facts can be ac- 
counted for in any other way; it is simply one of the penal- 
ties of greatness. 

As we pass down the road toward the west we come to a 
lane on the left leading to Indian Hill, in the near corner of 
which, now a vacant lot, once stood the old stone church of 
Wawarsing. The date of erection is unknown, but "Olde Ul- 
ster" says that a church had been here long enough to be de- 
scribed in 1742 as the "Old Meeting House". At the time of 
the last Indian raid down this valley, August 12, 1781, the 
savages entered the church and amused themselves by throw- 
ing their tomahawks at the panels of the pulpit, leaving a num- 
ber of gashes which were never repaired. Two of the more 
venturesome of the whites attempted to shoot some of the in- 
vaders as they stood in the church door, but one gun missed 
fire and one gunner missed aim and they were compelled to 
run for it without having done any damage. The church stood 
until 1843, when it burned. 



PINE BUSH, KERKONKSON AND WAWARSING. 73 

Keeping down the lane and through a farm gate we see on 
the right the John C. Hoornbeek house, formerly the dwelling 
of a Vemoy. At the moment of attack only Mrs. Vernoy and 
her baby were about the place; she in the barn and the child 
in its cradle in the house. Two of the enemy entered the 
house, Shanks Ben, a noted Indian, and a Tory, who was one 
of the party. The woman, knowing it was certain death to 
show herself, was compelled to remain where she could, un- 
seen herself, see into the open door of the house. Thus she 
saw the savage go to the cradle with raised tomahawk to 
strike, when the babe smiled in his face and he could not 
bring himself to kill it ; but not so the representative of civili- 
zation, who without compunction dashed out the innocent 
life. Even a babe's scalp had a money value in those days, for 
the English appear to have deliberately put a price on scalps. 

Toward the close of the war a British detachment was 
captured on its way to Canada and among its baggage were 
found literally bales of scalps, representing 340 men, 88 
women, 193 boys, many girls, but number not given, 29 unborn 
infants and 122 mixed, old and young of both sexes. 

Continuing along the lane we stop at the next bend where 
across the fields can be seen the notch which cradles the Ver- 
noy Kill. In the immediate foreground is the site of the 
stockaded stone fort used during the Indian troubles. 

The "Narratives of Massacres and Depredations on the 
Frontier in Wawasink" mentions the fact that one Philip Hine 
and another were acting as scouts at this time and were cap- 
tured by the Indians. 

Naturally this is of interest to a member of the family, but 
who this Philip Hine was is something yet to be learned. As 
the men of Massachusetts and Connecticut frequently worked 



74 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

their way over to this frontier, it seems probable that he, as 
are the rest of us, was a descendant of Thomas Hine, who is 
believed to have come over with the Rev. John Davenport, 
who landed in Boston June 26, 1637. Within two years 
Thomas Hine removed to Milford, Conn., of which town he 
was one of the founders. But the genealogy of the family 
makes no mention of any Philip. 

If the Mohawks had lived up to their traditions they would 
have done better by Philip Hine than tie him up to a tree in 
the woods and leave him for three days without food or drink, 
for the Connecticut histories tell how the Mohawks, coming 
over to Milford on a maraud, about 1645-50, were surprised 
and defeated by the Milford Indians, who tied one of their 
captives to a stake planted in the salt meadows and there left 
him to be eaten by the mosquitoes. 

"An Englishman named Hine, who found the poor wretch 
in this deplorable condition, shocked at this barbarous mode 
of torture, cut the thongs from his limbs and set him at lib- 
erty. He then invited him to his house, gave him food, and 
helped him to escape. This kind act was never forgotten by 
the Mohawks. They treated the English of Milford ever after 
with marked civility and did many kind and friendly acts that 
testified their gratitude toward their deliverer and his family." 

Another says : — 

"For this simple act of humanity Hine was much endeared 
to the tribe of the rescued Indian, who believed that the Great 
Spirit would always watch over and protect the good White 
Face and his posterity." 

Possibly the Indians neglected to ask Philip his name. 

Passing through another gate, the lane finally leads down 
to the Vemoy Kill just before it enters Rondout Creek, and 



PINE BUSH, KERKONKSON AND WAWARSING. 75 

here we come on the site where tradition says stood the coun- 
cil house of the Esopus Indians and other tribes of the Hudson 
and the Delaware. 

In a deed of this land dated in 1699, the following appears: 
"excepting a certaine part or parcell which is called Anck- 
erops land running to a Creek where the great wigwam now 
stands", etc. This is the only record of the council house that 
Mr. Brink has been able to find. 

Under the shadow of the mountain, when the sun is in the 
west, once lived Benny Depew, in a little old stone house. 
When the canal had a better circulation than is now the case 
the place was known as Port Ben. Now it is merely the rail- 
road station for Wawarsing. 

Benny was in many respects a second edition of every- 
body's friend, Rip Van Winkle, his strong point being a love 
for that kind of work which counts least in dollars and cents — 
hunting and fishing and the telling of his adventures to an ad- 
miring group of neighbors. 

But Benny is not our story, he is merely an incident, or an 
instrument through which the following facts have been pre- 
served : — 

Old Ninety-Nine, an Indian chief, said to be the last sur- 
viving remnant of the Ninety-Ninth Tribe, and a great hunter 
and trapper, found in Benny the reincarnated spirit of the 
brave, whose scorn of the hoe was only equalled by his love 
of the chase. And to him the proud chief confided the great 
secret that had been handed down from chief to chief and 
must die with him. 

Whispering that he had an unheard of wonder to show, 
that not even his own brother could get from him, the chief 
invited the trapper to go on a trip with him, and one day both 



76 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

were quietly swallowed up in the dense forest that then 
clothed the sides of old Shawangunk. 

Climbing among the rocks and ravines of this mountain is 
no work for a tenderfoot, but both men were equally seasoned, 
for Benny could follow wherever the Indian led. Up, up they 
clambered, over rocks and fallen trees until they finally came 
to a dry channel that during the spring freshets was swept 
by the melted snow from the heights above. 

Here the white man allowed himself to be blindfolded and, 
after following the water trail for about an hour, the Indian 
removed the bandage and our explorer found himself at the 
foot of a high ledge of rocks, but so surrounded by trees that 
he was unable to locate the spot in the deep gloom of the 
primeval woods. 

As Benny looked about him he saw nothing very wonder- 
ful. There were, perhaps, a hundred such ledges on the moun- 
tain, but the muscular old giant led to a great boulder which 
he pushed one side and exposed to view the mouth of a cav- 
ern, into whose blackness Benny could only blink in amaze. 

Old silent face, lighting a bit of candle, beckoned the now 
frightened woodsman to follow. These rocks and gullies were 
full of gnomes and goblins and such a step seemed like beard- 
ing the lion in his den. But the Indian strode on and the white 
man was bound to follow, so with trembling fingers he clasped 
the sleeve of his guide and they pressed forward. Almost im- 
mediately the passage opened into a great vaulted chamber, 
when it seemed to Benny as though his fairy godmother must 
have waived her wand, for beneath his feet were the richest 
and most costly of rugs and oriental carpets, so thick and soft 
as to deaden entirely the sound of their heavy tramp, which 
but a moment before had echoed and re-echoed from the 



PINE BUSH, KERKONKSON AND WAWARSING. 27 

rocky walls. While on every side were waving arras of costly 
tapestry with beautiful vases and rare articles from China 
and the Ind. standing and lying in profusion, pictures so life- 
like that the subjects seemed about to start forward to greet 
the guests or landscapes where the trees appeared to wave 
in the wind and the brooks to sparkle in the sun. 

But the "chief do-over", as our elegant friend Mr. Dooley 
would say, was an immense chest, over which the Indian 
swayed his lighted candle and through whose sparkling con- 
tents his long, claw fingers ran, for it was filled to the brim 
with all manner of gold and precious jewels, diamonds, rubies 
and sapphires that glittered and sparkled under the yellow rays 
of the candle until the whole room seemed to be alight with 
the flash of their splendor. 

Finally the chief awoke Benny from his trance with the 
announcement that they must return whence they came, and 
after reaching daylight the great boulder was rolled back and 
the Indian looked to see that their feet left no sign. Then 
bandaging Benny's eyes once more, they returned down the 
mountain. 

Ninety-Nine never offered to conduct Benny to the cave 
again, and so long as the Indian lived his companion feared 
to search for the place, but the red-skin finally went on his 
last hunt, and as time passed and he did not return, the desire 
for the treasure overcame Benny's fear of goblin vengeance, 
and he finally set out to seek the cave for himself. 

He was a good woodsman and easily found the spot at 
which his eyes had been covered, and he then proceeded to 
follow the dry run, but soon it began to branch and branch 
again, and he was lost in a tangle of dry water courses such 
as he never before knew existed, and it took him some time 



78 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

to realize that the guardians of the treasure had spread this 
network all about to confuse and confound him, but when it 
was once clear to him what the trouble was he hastened home 
and never again ventured on the quest, for many a man who 
has excited the ire of these guardians of the mountain's se- 
crets had gone on a hunt never to return. And, what is more, 
their bodies are never found, but on stormy nights when the 
trees sway and bend to the blast the groans and cries of the 
lost are plainly heard and it is well known that they had been 
imprisoned among the branches and trunks of the trees, which 
took delight in crushing, crushing, crushing until, as the storm 
increased the tortures of the captives, they groaned aloud in 
their agony. Every man who knows the woods has often 
heard these terrifying sounds as the wind has swept the tree 
tops. 

As Benny became old and garrulous the story finally came 
out bit by bit, but none were found bold enough to undertake 
the exploration for long years. But in these days when there 
are many who profess to have no faith in witches and hobgob- 
lins (a very dangerous and distressing condition, surely,) one 
will occasionally be found to take up the search. 

One such industrious gentleman was reported by the El- 
lenville Journal some dozen or fifteen years ago as having 
found the cave. The tapestries and carpets had, of course, 
long before rotted to dust and many rocks had fallen from the 
cavern's roof and buried the treasure deep, but our adven- 
turous friend was intending to pack a backload of good blast- 
ing powder to the cave with which to uncover the treasure for 
his own benefit and that of his heirs and assigns forever. 

But nothing appears ever to have been heard from the 
adventurer again and whether he pulled the hole in after him 



PINE BUSH, KERKONKSON AND WAWARSING. 79 

and could not get out, or whether the goblins put him to sleep 
will never be known. 

It is possible that some day some one in league with the 
Devil may be allowed to sign his soul away for the treasure, 
but probably none but he and his friends will ever know it. 

Just how all this treasure, which was loot of the white 
man, not the Indian, got into this out-of-the-way place, no at- 
tempt is made to explain, but there is an old legend which tells 
how Captain Kidd attempted to steal the share of a partner, 
who staked him for a certain cruise, by running the two re- 
turned vessels heavily laden with spoil up the Hudson. The 
contents of one vessel is said to have been carried back into 
the Catskills and hidden — ^may not this be it? — the other being 
taken further up the river. 



80 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 



NAPANOCH AND ELLENVILLE. 

If we stuck closely to our text, the sixteenthly, or there- 
about, would be Napanoch, but we will now shake the dust 
of the highway from our feet and take a woods road over the 
hill to Honk Lake. Down in the depths sings the Vernoy Kill, 
while close at hand, or under foot, were wild azalea, straw- 
berry blossoms and other delectable matters, and on every 
hand was fresh young birch for the nibbling. At one point 
was spread a typical picture of the region up the valley of the 
Kill, a distant background of hills just visible through the 
mist, the nearer slopes wild and rugged rock and bush, with 
a group of dark pines in the hollow to accentuate the misty 
distance. 

Now, just as the map said, there came a fork in the road, 
the middle tine of which was for me, and shortly came the 
Rondout, on whose bank by the roadside stood an inviting 
v/ell of pure water. There is nothing that so satisfies as such 
a draught under such circumstances. 

Turning to the left here the creek is crossed at the head of 
Honk Lake, on whose dark surface floated the skiffs of many 
patient fishermen. Just after crossing the stream we come 
upon the site of the "fort at Lackawack", as recently estab- 
lished by Mr Brink and Mr. Benedict. 

Col. John Cantine, whose command lay at Lackawaxen, 
as a frontier guard, shifted his troops nearer to the seat of 



NAPANOCH AND ELLENVILLE. 81 

trouble in August, 1778, building a log fort about where the 
road now runs along the western side of Honk Lake, this fol- 
lowing the old Indian trail, but the name of his old post was 
retained as Lackawack, apparently as a matter of identifica- 
tion. Col. Cantine sometimes dated his report from "Hunk", 
sometimes from Lackawack. There appears to be no record 
of any attack on the fort or fighting in its immediate vicinity, 
but it was the centre of the horse patrol, which picketed the 
border from Peenpack to Shandaken at the time when Bur- 
goyne and Lord Howe were attempting the capture of the 
Hudson Valley. 

The road now makes a point of getting down to the foot 
of Honk Falls as rapidly as possible and, once there, the trav- 
eler can readily understand why. The falls, some 60-70 feet 
high, come dashing down the sloping rocks, an avalanche of 
foam, Man has interfered very little with the wild beauty 
of the place. The trees still cling to the steep sides of this 
cleft in the rocks, the bottom of which is a tumble of great 
blocks of stone which keep the water agitated. A footpath 
worn along the eastern bank of the stream brings one to a fair 
view of the top of the falls, but the most attractive view is part 
way up its western border where a rock shelf juts out com- 
manding a full view of the wild beauty. The place must be 
much as it was in the days of the red man, a romantic spot 
fit for legend and story. Being translated, Honk Falls is Falls 
Falls, for hunk, as it was formerly spelled, was Indian for 
falling water. Is that where the slang expression "to get 
hunk" with the enemy comes from? One is always ready to 
take a fall out of him if possible. 

We are in Napanoch where the Sandburg and Rondout 
Creeks become one. The name probably means "land over- 



82 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

flowed by water". The highway in the eastern edge of the 
village is known as "Lost Comers" — there is no apparent cor- 
ner and nothing lost, so far as can be seen, but the name is 
supposed to come from a sharp turn in the creek here and the 
fact that land has been cut out by freshets. Here is an old 
building, now used as an icehouse, which dates back full two 
hundred years. It is locally known as the "old fort". Mr. 
Benedict believes that it was probably stockaded and used as 
a place of refuge. It was erected by the brothers Bevier, the 
first white settlers at this spot. 

Louis Ravine, or hole, mentioned in "The Indians, or Nar- 
ratives of Massacres", etc., as the place to which the inhabit- 
ants of Naponoch fled when no Indian pursued, is the ravine 
immediately back of the reformatory. 

At each fort in the valley one man was always on guard 
so long as there was any possibility of Indian raid, and it was 
his duty, when anything suspicious was seen, to fire his gun 
(it was against the law to fire a gun otherwise than as a sig- 
nal of danger or in self defense). The signal would be taken 
up by each guard in turn, and thus in a few moments the 
alarm was spread from one end of the valley to another, thus 
giving the inhabitants an opportunity to seek safety in the 
nearest fort. 

The old "Holland guns" used by the early settlers sent 
forth a boom that was easily distinguishable above the crack 
of the smaller and lighter arm used by the Indians, and so long 
as the boom of these great guns could be heard during a fight, 
it was known that the white men were holding their own. 
Mr. Ronk possesses one of these weapons, which is fully six 
feet long and has a bore like a lo-gauge shotgun; in fact this 
particular gun is the one used by Cornelius Bevier during the 



NAPANOCH AND ELLENVILLE. 83 

attack on Wawarsink, and it was with this that he just did not 
kill two Indians with one shot, as noted in "The Indians", etc. 

Mr. Isaiah Rose, of Naponoch, tells me that the old toma- 
hawk-scarred pulpit of the stone church at Wawarsing, that is 
commonly supposed to have been burned with the church, was 
removed from the old church some time before its destruc- 
tion and brought to Napanoch and stored in the cellar of the 
church here. The then janitor of the Napanoch church, a 
mere boy, has confidentially confided the fact to Mr. Rose that 
one cold morning when he needed kindling to start his fire 
the old pulpit disappeared. The lad had no appreciation of 
the historic value of the battered old piece of furniture. 

A spring on the river bank immediately back of the hotel 
in Napanoch gave the Indian name of Topatcoke to the low 
land here. "To" is Indian for pot, and was applied here be- 
cause of the peculiarity of the spring, in that while it seemed 
to boil up, it never overflowed its banks. 

A similar spring about a mile up the mountain above Louis 
Ravine gave the same Indian name to that locality. The 
meaning of the full name is hidden from me. 

Just across the Rondout on the way to Ellenville stands 
the simple frame cottage which is pointed out as the birth- 
place of De Witt Clinton. 

Somewhere between here and Ellenville village once on 
a time lived an old woman commonly known as Floor — pos- 
sibly an abbreviation for Flora, possibly a nick-name, because 
she could floor most of her men neighbors. Mr. Isaiah Rose 
remembers to have heard his mother tell how "Floor" could 
pick up a barrel of cider and drink from the bung. His own 
mother could pick up a barrel of flour and carry it, which is 
more than her son can do, so he says. 



84 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

Well, back among the trees of the EUenville burial ground 
stands a simple stone which perpetuates the fact that "Aunt 
Dina Hasbrouck Died Oct. lo, 1875, aged over 100 y'rs. She 
remembered the burning of Kingston by British troops, Oct. 
1777". 

I spent a day in EUenville, mostly running over files of 
the Journal, and thus came by the following valuable piece of 
information, which a recent Journal had gleaned from one of 
fifty-five years ago: — 

"A young fellow, a Nova Scotian, got on one of the river 
steamboats who was only nineteen years of age, stood seven 
feet and nine inches high and weighed four hundred 
pounds. He had not attained his full growth" — there was 
more of it, but that is all we need. Now, as I take it, the les- 
son to be learned by this is that fifty-five years ago a river 
steamboat that was only nineteen years of age stood seven 
feet nine inches high and weighed four hundred pounds was 
something of a novelty, but I am much puzzled over the fact 
that this wonderful vessel had not attained full growth; here 
it seems is meat for an antiquarian investigation for some gen- 
tleman of leisure. Travelers who have been to the Yosemite and 
to Switzerland tell how the view from the top of Shawangunk 
surpasses anything to be seen in those regions — why they do 
it is not divulged, but that they do it is not questioned. This 
is the country of the falling water. Every little stream, and 
there are many of them, no matter how high up on the moun- 
tain it rises, is sure to make for the valley just as rapidly as 
the atmosphere will let it, and consequently each is a series 
of falls and cascades. 



NAPANOCH AND ELLENVILLE. 85 

"Cloud upon cloud, the purple pinewoods cling to the the rich 
Arcadian mountains, 

All the hues of the gates of heaven flashed from the white en- 
chanted fountains 

Where in the flowery glades of the forest the rivers that sing 
to Arcadia spring." -[Alfred Noyes. 

As one enters the village from the north, the monument 
commemorating the Fantine Kill massacre is seen on the left. 
The Indians had learned of the proposed expedition of Gen- 
erals John Sullivan and James Clinton into their own country 
and, led by Brant, proposed to give the whites plenty to do 
nearer home. The attacks on Fantine Kill, May 4th, 1779, 
and at Minisink on July 226. of the same year, were part of 
this plan. The Kill flov^s through the northern skirts of the 
village and it was along its banks that the first settlers here 
seem to have lodged; these were the families of Jesse Bevier, 
the widow of Isaac Bevier and Michael Sax. The two latter 
families were killed every one, except a feeble minded daughter 
of Mrs. Bevier, but the house of Jesse Bevier was successfully 
defended. The attack occurred about daybreak. 

During the latter part of 1906 there appeared in the New 
York papers notices of the discovery of the "Old Spanish 
Mine" in the Shawangunk Mountain. According to these 
"Tradition said that from the tunnel ran a stream of living 
water, and Professor Mather, State Geologist of Ohio, who in- 
vestigated, accepted the theory that the work was done by 
Spaniards who formed a part of the Ponce de Leon expedition. 
After failing to find the Fountain of Youth in Florida, and 
following their leader's dying injunction to continue the search, 
they are thought to have made the journey northward. 

"When they came to a stream larger than a man's arm rush- 



86 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

ing out of solid rock, with no visible source of supply, they 
halted and began to tunnel to locate the pool whence it came. 
This was in the sixteenth century. The tunnel was known 
till recently only by Indian legend. 

"One Hinsdale, finding a stream that never varied in its 
flow or temperature, employed a force of men and uncovered 
an accumulation of debris. Then he located the mouth of the 
tunnel itself. It is perfectly formed and the stream gushes 
from a fissure at the extreme end. 

"The tunnel is five hundred feet long, six feet high, four 
feet wide and straight as an arrow, with only a rise of seven 
feet in its entire length." 

That is the way the newspapers reported it to us. There 
was a mine, possibly worked in a crude way by Indians, in 
pre-Dutch days ; this was close to the canal lock in Ellenville. 
When the canal was a-digging, about 1824, it was either dis- 
covered by some of the Digger White-men or its whereabouts 
made known to them by a local tribe, and they, after the man- 
ner of men, concluded to seek for the precious metal, whatever 
it might be. So a few dollars was contributed and men set 
to work pecking at hard-hearted old Shawangunk, but a pick- 
axe on the old fellow's rock ribs makes little impression, and 
a brief period of such work was enough to cool the ardor of 
the most enthusiastic. Then came those of larger views, who 
proposed to purchase several hundred kegs of powder, store 
them at the far end of the tunnel, which was some three to 
four hundred feet in extent, tamp it thoroughly and then 
touch the match which would make the rocks and the moun- 
tain to all flee away. The explosion would not only loosen 
the bowels of Ulster County, but was to give New England a 
shake, while all the world wondered. 



NAPANOCH AND ELLENVILLE. 87 

But about now the canal folks stepped in with an injunc- 
tion which even the best black powder must respect, and soon 
the project was forgotten, and later the mine itself, the en- 
trance caved in, bushes and trees grew up, completely hiding 
all traces of the ancient diggings. 

Folks have a way of dying in Ellenville and a new gen- 
eration arose who knew not the Spanish Mine. So completely 
was its memory obliterated that when, some thirty years later, 
traces of lead and silver were discovered in nearby rocks and 
a new mine was opened, it was done in ignorance of the earlier 
effort; this time also much more money was sunk in the 
ground than was brought therefrom and another set of men 
were poorer and wiser, while the old mine slept on. 

Then came a professor who knew a thing or two. He was 
to investigate the later mine as an adjunct to the Columbia 
School of Mines, and while poking around in the inquisitive 
way professors have, he stumbled on a spring of water that, 
to his scientific mind, was in some manner different from what 
a spring in such a place ordinarily is, and the professor put a 
padlock on his talking machine and started a little investiga- 
tion on the professor's account, after which, like the man in 
the parable, he sold all that he had and bought that field, and 
then the professor took off the padlock, and now a hundred- 
thousand-dollar plant is going up, for the water is more excel- 
lent even than that famed soap, which is but 99-44-100 pure. 

So much for the facts. What follows is not so well au- 
thenticated and may not interest those who prefer dry statis- 
tics as above, to what reads more like fiction. 

Legend of the Old Spanish Mine. — Long before the Dutch 
knew the "Great River of the Mountains" as Henry Hudson 
so poetically and accurately named it, a Spanish galleon bound 



88 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

for the gold of Peru met contrary breezes which wafted the 
ship far from its course. Great damage was done to ship and 
rigging, and when an unknown coast came in view a harbor 
was diligently sought, but the long sandy stretch of shore of- 
fered no safe anchorage and the Spaniard coasted north 
against an icy wind that froze his thin blood and finally found 
an opening where the good ship lay at rest behind what we 
now know as Sandy Hook, but this was no place for repairs 
and an exploration was started up the great bay, and by little 
and little the bay narrowed to a great river, whose rocky 
shores forbade the thought of pulling the little vessel out for 
repairs, and so with the spirit of adventure newly awakened, 
the black beards kept on and on until finally they came to a 
sandy, shelving shore with the great forest at hand for the 
making of new spars for the patched sails and planks for the 
damaged hull. 

A copper colored people, who wore furs and feather robes, 
gathered to see this wonder. Every man came armed with 
primitive weapons, but so friendly were they that the visitors 
were soon on the best of terms with the Indians, who brought 
game and corn and in return received trinkets that appealed 
to their sense of the esthetic. Among these trinkets were 
some bright copper baubles that when the natives saw imme- 
diately excited a great powwow, much gesticulation and 
many pointings toward the distant mountains. The Spaniards, 
on gold intent, drew such conclusions from these antics as 
pleased them most, and by signs finally made their new found 
friends understand that they wished to be taken over the 
mountain where the glitter grew. 

And so repairs finished and the ship launched, an expedition 
was started toward the golden unknown. The sailors found 



NAPANOCH AND ELLENVILLE. 89 

that threading the rock fastnesses of the Shawangunk was 
quite a different matter from pacing level Spanish decks, and 
more than one fell by the way, for life was unimportant when 
gold was leading the dance. 

It was a toilsome journey for those used only to the level 
decks of a vessel, but once over the hills our adventurers found 
themselves amidst great fields of growing corn in a beautiful 
rich valley that warmed every heart, and now the expedition 
turned south, following a well worn footpath along the bank 
of a beautiful rushing stream until the guides, turning aside 
among the trees, stopped, and lo! before the excited explorers 
was a shaft into the hillside. 

Getting out the ore was a simple job, but how to get it to 
the smelter was a complicated question. To transport it the 
way they had come was manifestly impossible; a road must 
be found and the dusky friends were again appealed to, and 
now they led down the valley to our Rondout and passed its 
fertile meadows to the great river, and so the first white feet 
pressed the Old Mine Road, an older Indian trail. 

The forests contributed more water then than do the rav- 
aged lands of to-day, and it was thought that light flat boats 
could be floated from mine to ship, but this proved impracti- 
cable and a road was constructed. Then rumors of more mine 
holes were brought to the greedy adventurers, and while some 
delved others explored, finally locating another mine in the 
country of the Minisinks, and the road was extended to meet 
the new want. 

The recently discovered documents which, while sadly mu- 
tilated, tell us this, end suddenly, almost in the middle of a 
sentence, but before they quite cease there are indications that 
the natives had grown cold and that trouble was brewing, and 



90 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

the supposition is that the red men finally fell on the gold 
seekers and slew them every one. 

But all this occurred so long ago that there was no tradi- 
tion concerning these happenings among the Indians on the 
second coming of the whites, and we must rest content with 
the story as it is. 

The following events occurred so far back that there are 
probably few who now recall them; hence a brief statement 
of the known facts is given to introduce what has never been 
more than whispered before: — 

A young telegraph operator, one David M. Smith, who was 
in the office of the canal company, disappeared suddenly on a 
Saturday night in February, 1866, and so completely that no 
trace of him could be found. 

Through an odd combination of circumstances, those in 
EUenville supposed he had gone for a short visit to his mother 
who lived near the covered bridge at Port Jackson, while the 
mother, though expecting him, presumed he had been detained 
by extra work. Thus for an entire week his disappearance 
was not discovered, and when the search was taken up the 
trail was cold. 

There was no reason why he should have voluntarily 
dropped out in such a mysterious manner. And then he took 
nothing with him — even left certain letters that should have 
been destroyed or carried off. 

Smith was well liked by young and old, but was something 
of a roysterer and had some evil companions but no enemies, 
except possibly one Flicker, a German, with whom he had 
quarreled over a girl, and who later went crazy and eventually 
died in the asylum at Ovid. 

Prolonged search and even advertising failed to discover 



NAPANOCH AND ELLENVILLE. 91 

the slightest clew to his whereabouts, and the case was finally 
passed into the list of unexplained mysteries. 

Thirteen years later, in March, 1879, the old Ulster lead 
mine was reopened, after having lain idle many years, and 
when the debris was removed from the entrance, human re- 
mains were found which were identified as those of Smith. 

Up to the time of removing this debris the only access to 
the drift of the old mine was by means of a shaft which led 
straight down from among the rocks of the mountain side to 
its inner end, the outer end having been effectually choked by 
fallen rocks. 

It was recalled that the night of the disappearance was 
bitter cold; the point at which the shaft opened among the 
rocks was rough and inaccessible, and it was wholly unlikely 
that Smith would have gone to such a spot on such a night. 

This is all that is known. 

What follows appears to have been kept quiet, and few 
ever had any knowledge of this strangest part of the tale, 
though it must have at least in part reached the editor of the 
Journal, as in the issue of March 28, 1879, he says : "No meas- 
ures have been taken to ascertain the manner of young 
Smith's death, * * * and nothing is likely to be done about 
it, although * * * ^ solution of the mystery would not re- 
quire a miracle by any means." 

The company soon supplied the vacancy made by Smith's 
disappearance with a young woman from a New York school, 
this being her first post; but she proved quick and capable 
and soon had the details of her work well in hand. 

Now there had been a one-sided love affair, in which this 
girl had taken a disinterested part, the enthusiasm mostly 
lying with a youth attending the school with her. However, 



92 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

it takes a good deal to dampen the fires of young love, and 
as the lad was the first of the two to graduate into a position, 
he slipped a picture of himself between the leaves of a book 
belonging to the girl, in the hope that some time it might help 
to turn the tide in his favor. i 

As it happened the young man secured a position with the 
canal company in Port Jervis and, of course, was in daily 
touch with Ellenville. He knew of the disappearance of Smith 
and of the employment of a young woman in his stead, but 
did not get her name and never suspected that this was his 
first and only love. 

So much by way of introduction. 

As it will serve no good purpose to give the girl's name, 
she will be known in this narrative as Miss Smith. She made 
friends with every one who came in contact with her, including 
the German, Flicker, who was one of her earliest admirers, 
and who frightened off a number of the more timid youth who 
apparently thought they had an inkling that she was made for 
them. 

Flicker was a newly made man from the moment of his 
acquaintance with Miss Smith. A younger son of a good 
family and well educated, he had long ago gone to the dogs, 
losing every outward sign of refinement, and his old acquaint- 
ances hardly knew him in this, to them, new role, while the 
girl's first impression of dislike rapidly changed to one of a 
wholly different nature, even before she was fully aware of 
it and when, in one of her idle moments, he dropped in and be- 
gan a conversation which opened wide her eyes with astonish- 
ment and pleasure at his evident refinement, the battle was 
half won. 

But while they were yet talking a most singular and un- 



NAPANOCH AND ELLENVILLE. 93 

canny thing happened : The telegraph key began to click, but 
in a fashion that even to a novice indicated something unusual, 
and the girl was puzzled and somewhat frightened, exclaim- 
ing: "This is extraordinary — terrible! No human being can 
be at the other end of this wire; but, whoever it is, he says 
murder has been committed. Much I cannot make out; only 
now and then a word or a phrase. [Then reading] : 'I was 

thrown down a deep h-o-l-e i-n t-h-e r-o-c-k-s a-n-d m-y' 

now it is unintelligible again." Flicker was at first frightened 
beyond the power of moving, but managed to cover his con- 
fusion and left as quickly as possible. 

It was some days before he ventured around again, but 
when he did he was met by a curious look and a remark that 
some very singular and disjointed messages had been coming 
to her that constantly warned her against some German, 
whose name she never caught. The operator at times tele- 
graphed like a professional but complained that he was lying 
doubled up and had not the free use of his hand. The horror 
again crept over Flicker, but he pulled himself together and 
asked if she had the name of the operator. No ; she had asked 
for it, but could not untangle the answer. 

Oddly enough she could not tell whether the messages came 
from the north or the south, but was strongly of the impres- 
sion that they came down an almost disused line that ran up 
the mountain side, until she learned that there was no one 
along this line now. The instrument clicked again and she 

read: "H-e- i-s n-o-w w-i-t-h" . "There", said she, "how 

is it possible to make anything out of that?" But Flicker had 
vanished. 

The German kept away for a long time and the strange 
messages ceased. But now another inexplicable thing hap- 



94 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

pened. The young man at Port Jervis awoke one night from 
a sound sleep with a feeling that he was wanted, but where or 
by whom he had no intimation. He was, however, impelled 
to dress and go out into the stillness of the night. Naturally 
he walked toward the telegraph office — his steps led that way 
every day — and as naturally he unlocked the door and entered, 
and was surprised to hear the click of his instrument. There 
was then no night work along the line and no one ever thought 
of calling up after hours. 

The key clicked out: "Y-o-u a-r-e w-a-n-t-e-d, t-h-e-r-e 
i-s n-o t-i-m-e t-o b-e 1-o-s-t, t-h-e o-n-e y-o-u 1-o-v-e i-s i-n 
d-a-n-g-e-r." He called back to know who it was and where, 
but the only answer was : "H-e-r-e. H-u-r-r-y! h-u-r-r-y!! 
h-u-r-r-y ! ! !" There was an indescribable manner in the send- 
ing of the message that thrilled the young fellow. He never 
doubted but that it was intended for him and that the one he 
was to help was his only love, for he had not forgotten her; 
but what could he do? Where was she? Could she be an 
operator up the line? There was the girl at Ellen ville — ^he had 
never known who she was. It flashed on him like an inspira- 
tion, and without stopping to reason the matter out he started 
for his saddle horse, an old friend and tough, who was accus- 
tomed to some pretty rough traveling. 

To saddle the horse and start for the towpath of the canal 
— the best bridle path in the world, and one he was well ac- 
quainted with for a large part of the thirty odd miles to be 
covered — was but the work of a few moments. His excite- 
ment was quickly communicated to the horse and they were 
soon racing through the night, the rider doing all he could to 
ease the work of the animal, knowing that the strain would be 
very great before the end came. 



NAPANOCH AND ELLENVILLE. 95 

It began to be noticed that Flicker was growing more and 
more moody. He had long ago forsaken his old haunts, but 
now he was never seen except as his work required it, and he 
was known to spend his Sundays and spare time by himself 
in the woods, but most people rather feared, and none liked, 
him. Thus he went his own way undisturbed and was little 
seen and less missed. 

Presumably in one of these rambles he discovered a sort 
of cave formed by fallen rock masses in a secluded ravine, in 
the back part of which was a peculiar spring that apparently 
boiled up, yet never ran over, similar to those that have given 
Indian names to the flats at Napanoch and to a part of the 
mountain above. Just when the idea came to Flicker is, of 
course, not known, but he evidently conceived the crazy no- 
tion of abducting the girl to this cave and holding her pris- 
oner until she would consent to marry him, as later discover- 
ies showed he stocked the place with necessaries enough to 
last months. 

And now everything in readiness, he began to lay his plans. 
He regularly watched the girl go back and forth between her 
home and ofBce until he knew every inch of the route ; he also 
paid attention to the house, which stood near the canal, a 
short half mile south of the telegraph office, until he knew the 
room she occupied and just what other rooms were used as 
bedrooms — knew the habits of all its people, in fact no little 
detail lacked attention. And on the very night that the strange 
message came to Port Jervis, Flicker had prepared to carry 
out his plan. 

One of the inmates of the house was taken sick this night 
and it was not until 2 o'clock that the last light went out and 
all was still, and by 2 o'clock horse and rider were passing 



96 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

through Wurtsboro, only twelve miles away. The pace had 
been a fast one and both were well done up. Many people had 
risen from their beds to gaze out into the darkness and wonder 
who it was and what the trouble. 

Flicker thought that a half hour should be sufficient for all 
to be asleep, and in due time proceeded to the window of the 
girl's room, but found that a screen placed therein had been 
fastened, and it took twenty minutes or more to remove this. 
Then he had disturbed the sleeper and must wait for her to 
quiet again. Horse and rider by now are sweeping down 
through Spring Glen. Finally the abductor entered the room, 
smothered the girl's cries, and before she could make a sound 
was out of the window with his prize in his arms. 

The night had been dark and starless ; there had been some 
lightning on the horizon; but even while the desperado was 
at work the storm so rapidly approached that the incessant 
thunder drowned every other sound and the telegraph wires 
becoming surcharged with the electric fluid blazed with a 
steady light, enough to readily illumine the path and the canal. 
The storm had terrified the already wild horse, until every 
ounce of strength v/as put into this, his last mad run, and as 
the pair bore down on him, the startled German only saw an 
avenging angel flashing down from on high, to his startled 
vision a huge god scourging his horse with the forked light- 
ning which seemed to emanate from the raised hand, and be- 
lieving his time had come he relinquished his hold on the girl 
and fled. 

To transfer the girl back to the shelter of the house was 
but the work of a moment, but to the anxious lover it seemed 
long hours before she was returned to consciousness again. 
Then the young couple had an all too short moment together, 



NAPANOCH AND ELLENVILLE. 97 

but though brief there was time for hurried explanations and 
a prompt yes, and soon the minister replaces the doctor. 

The wild night has gone out in peace, the air is full of 
sunshine and the damp smell of the woods ; but matters must 
still move rapidly for the young couple. There is no leave of 
absence at Port Jervis. Fortunately, however, a substitute is 
at hand for Ellenville, and such a bridal party as the old canal 
never bore before was floating swiftly southward while a very 
tired horse, gaily decked with the bridal wreath, was placidly 
munching sugar with his oats and paying small attention to 
the swiftly changing beauties of nature which were spread 
around with such lavish hand. And so ends a very singular 
little romance. 



98 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 



LEUREN KILL TO BASRA'S KILL. 

The twenty-eighth milestone stands within the southern 
confines of Ellenville. 

Some two miles out of Ellenville the Leuren Kill crosses 
the road. The name, it is said, means "Trading Post Brook", 
hence it is to be supposed that in the early days there was a 
country store here, but apparently there is not even a tradi- 
tion concerning it. Back from the road and near the bank of 
the Kill, but not to be seen from the highway, stands a house 
that looks as though it was one of the old guard. This was 
built at the beginning of the French and Indian War by Con- 
rad Bevier, so says the widow of his grandson, Cornelius, who 
died thirty years ago. Mrs. Bevier, who now lives in Ellen- 
ville, tells the following story: One night during the French 
and Indian War, Conrad Bevier was called to Wawarsing and 
was compelled to leave his wife alone in the house. A good 
supply of wood was provided, the windows were securely 
fastened by blocks of wood and the door heavily barred. 

During the dark hours a party of about six Indians at- 
tempted to enter the house, and on failing to break through, 
climbed to the roof with intent to descend by the chimney, 
but Mrs. Bevier anticipating thus had kept a hot fire burning, 
which amply protected this means of ingress. The Indians, 
however, being endowed with the virtues of patience and hope, 
waited in the belief that the supply of wood could not hold out, 



LEUREN KILL TO BASRA'S KILL. 99 

remaining constantly on the roof, and sure enough the wood 
did run low and the fire began to die down. But Mrs. Bevier 
had prepared for this emergency by ripping open two mat- 
tresses stuffed with straw, and when the Indians made the 
attempt to enter she sent a roaring flame up the chimney 
which gave them pause. Several times they made the at- 
tempt, but each time were met in the same way, and finally as 
morning began to dawn the assailants drew off. 

Conrad Bevier later sold this house and built the stone 
house which to-day stands well back from and south of the 
main road in Napanoch (not the "Old Fort"). 

The old house on the Leurenkill may have been sold to a 
Newkirk, certainly a member of this family occupied it at an 
early date, then came the Freers under its roof, then the Brod- 
heads, and for the last fifty years it has been in the possession 
of the Jackson S. Schultz family, of New York. 

Rev. Matt. C. Julien remembers hearing his mother (born 
1809) tell of the parties for which the house was celebrated 
throughout the countryside when she was a girl; in her time 
it was known as the Brodhead house. There is a delicate little 
fall in the Kill near the house, and a rough bridge, all of which 
looked good to the camera, but the result indicated that color 
had more to do with the picture than had light and shade. 

Possibly a mile beyond the Leurenkill stands the old Brod- 
head house — 1753. The rising generation (he has yet some 
distance to rise, as he has only been at it ten or a dozen years) 
is the ninth in the Brodhead line that has inhabited the house 
without a break. 

The house was, of course, loopholed, but sixty or more 
years ago it was rejuvenated as to its outer walls with a coat 
of "dash", and of course the loopholes were then plastered over. 



100 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

Probably it was at this time that the old double Dutch door, 
which bore silent witness of Indian attack in numerous hacks 
made by their tomahawks, disappeared into the kindling wood 
pile. 

Across the road on a slight elevation are the graves of 
forty-six of the Brodhead slaves. And the women folks say 
that so recently as within a month or two, more or less, they 
have seen a bear in the corn patch opposite — it was surely a 
bear because it was black and acted like one — though those 
made of sterner stuff incline to sniff at the suggestion, hint- 
ing that it was merely a black dog gone astray. However, I 
prefer to think that it was a bear. 

In October, 1757, a few Cayugas persuaded some of the 
Indians along the Delaware to join them in a raid. On the 
1 2th they appeared at the house of Peter Jan, in what is now 
Sullivan County. Two soldiers posted in the neighborhood as 
scouts were killed, as also one of Jan's daughters. Jan and 
two sons, at work in a field, escaped. Another soldier in the 
house with Jan's wife and two remaining daughters, success- 
fully defended the place, and when the Indians retired he took 
the woman and girls to the house of Captain Brodhead, a mile 
distant. The Indians then returned and burned the Jan house. 

This was a glorious day after the storm. Old Shawan- 
gunk looked like an Indian chief wrapped in his cloak of feath- 
ers. The foliage was just beginning to open — it is the month 
of May — so that, including the blue above, there are all the 
colors of the rainbow, possibly subdued a bit. More varieties 
of greens and yellows and reds than could be counted : it is all 
scrub except for an occasional tall dark spruce that looked like 
a buttonhole in the old fellow's jacket. Beneath him was 
spread a fine green velvet carpet, woven in pictures of meadow 



LEU REN KILL TO BASHA'S KILL. 101 

lands with houses and cattle, stone walls and files of trees, a 
great picture of prosperity and plenty. 

At first our way leads up the valley of the Sandberg Creek, 
and when that takes to the woods at Spring Glen the Homo- 
wack takes its place. This is Indian for "the water runs out", 
and may refer to the fact that this is the crown of the valley 
from which the water flows both north and south, for it is not 
long before we take up with Basha Kill which, with the help 
of the Neversink, eventually finds its way into the Delaware, 
as the Homowack does into the Hudson. 

At Phillipsport the old canal bed comes over to our side of 
the valley, and we are treated to a series of abandoned locks 
and canal scenes. At one point a brook of considerable vol- 
ume has made itself at home in the old canal bed. 

A brief outline of the romance of the Delaware and Hud- 
son Canal is interesting, for even in such a dry document as 
a State Engineer's Report (see Appendix) a thread of romance 
insists on weaving its way through the statistics. 

A Philadelphia merchant who enjoyed close communion 
with nature makes his way on foot up into the northeastern 
corner of his state with knapsack and blanket and an axe in 
his belt for the evening's firewood, camping where night over- 
takes him, apparently not for the purpose of hunting or even 
fishing, but because of his love of the freedom and the 
grandeur of mountain and forest. 

And as he walks he notes a black stone cropping out here 
and there and, being of an inquiring turn of mind, though no 
geologist, he picks up a piece now and then, taking a few bits 
home where he and his brothers learn somehow that it will 
burn; then being thrifty and persistent the Wurts brothers 
desire to know more about this curiosity, and William goes 



102 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

back and manages to get out a few tons, builds him a raft and 
attempts to get his "stone-coal" down the river for the further 
enlightenment of his brothers and himself. 

After losing several cargoes against rocks, or amidst rap- 
ids, by persistent effort he manages finally to get a raft 
through. His neighbors seem to have looked on his foolish 
waste of effort with smiling toleration, but with an unconcern 
that must have been exasperating to the enthusiast, though it 
dampened not his ardor. We can imagine him going about 
among his friends telling how this black stone burned and 
gave out a good heat and must have great value; but most 
folks had burned wood, and their fathers before them ; where- 
fore then should they fly in the face of Providence by going 
against the traditions of their fathers? Fie on the dreamer! 
We will none of him. 

But the Wurts brothers had long heads as well as enthusi- 
asm. Land was cheap in that far country ; they would take a 
flier of a few thousand acres; something might come of it — 
and they did. Further experiments only convinced them the 
more, and they mined and shipped down stream to their own 
city and the south, for by now other people were discovering 
coal and the public was beginning to find out that it was good 
to burn, and the market, though small, was worth cultivating. 

The first known experiment in burning coal in this coun- 
try was that of a blacksmith, in 1769, but so little did he think 
of the result that it was not until forty years later that he tried 
the burning of it in a grate for fuel. During the Revolution it 
was used by the blacksmiths in the armory at Carlisle, Pa. 
In 1792 the Lehigh Coal Mining Company was formed, but it 
did little more than purchase lands. Then come the Wurts 
brothers' experiments about 18 12, and about this same time 



LEUREN KILL TO BASRA'S KILL. 103 

Col. George Shoemaker took nine wagonloads to Philadelphia, 
but could not sell it. It was soon after used with success in 
rolling mills in Delaware County, and from then on began to 
be used elsewhere. But it was not until 1825 that the trade 
took on proportions that would warrant the non-enthusiast 
to venture in with his capital. 

But the Wurts brothers were still years ahead of their 
neighbors, for they saw a market for their product in New 
York and began a hunt for the means of reaching that market, 
and so the Delaware and Hudson Canal was conceived in the 
brain of the dreamer. People laughed at the suggestion. Here 
were a thousand feet to be climbed and a thousand unknown 
difficulties to be overcome through a rugged wilderness, but 
Maurice Wurts, who seems to have been the leader in the 
family, evidently had the persuasive tongue of conviction; he 
believed and he made others believe. A company was formed 
and surveys prosecuted, estimates secured, the scheme was 
presented to the Legislatures of Pennsylvania and New York 
and the Legislators won over, and even yet the extended use 
of coal was problematical, for it was still some years to 1825. 

The canal is built after a fashion and water let in, but too 
much gravel has been used in the banks and the water seeps 
out and the I-told-you-sos clap their little hands with joy. It 
is two years more before water is again allowed to find its way 
into the canal, and the canal is a success. Then comes the 
cholera scare in New York, that hurts; the panic of 1833-4, 
that hurts. The first coal shipped was surface coal of inferior 
quality, that hurts; jealous rivals who begin to fear the un- 
ceasing push, push, push of the enthusiastic genius who, 
through all these long years of doubt has never taken his 
shoulder from the wheel, combine to work against the sue- 



104 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

cess of the scheme, but they are working against the relentless 
fate that always keeps its powder dry. Wall Street attacks the 
stock, but still the work goes on. 

In 1832 a small dividend comes as a welcome Christmas 
present to the long expectant stockholders, but not until 1839 
is there another such bright spot on the horizon. After this 
the dividends are steady, 8 per cent for years, except in 1842 
when they arose to 10 per cent. When the $800,000 of state 
loans come due, a large sum for those days, the canal pays off 
every cent without a wink. It is free of incumbrance and by 
now earning from 10 to 24 per cent per annum; the capital 
stock has grown from $500,000 to $10,000,000. Is there no ro- 
mance in the dry bones of statistics? 

At the foot of Council Hill I fell in with two small boys, 
who were on their way to the village to look for father. It 
seems that father likes to talk and is apt to forget how the 
time flies when he meets a friend, and this was the day when 
the family was to return home to Middletown, and it was al- 
ready afternoon. We jogged along comfortably together, 
none of us in any great hurry. The boys knew where there 
were some ripe grapes a piece down the road and we stopped 
here long enough to gather two small caps full (a minute ago 
it was the month of May, but just now we are in September). 
Then there was an apple tree which offered some attractive 
looking red-cheeked fruit, and that occupied a few minutes. 
Otherwise we kept going at a fair pace, barring an occasional 
well or a farmer, from whom I hoped to gather information. 

Some two miles before Wurtsboro stood until two years 
ago the old Devens blockhouse, or fort, built in 1757 by Con- 
rad Bevier. And near this same spot, behind a barn on the 
right, as one goes south, stands the blueflag tombstone of 



LEUREN KILL TO BASRA'S KILL. 105 

"Manuel Gonsalus is Gestorven De i8 April Anno 1758", 
which means that the gentleman died so long ago. He is 
known as the first white settler, though he was probably sixty 
to seventy years behind the first settler. His son Sam was a 
noted character during the Revolution. 

The Gonsalus family kept a log tavern here and they also 
built a sawmill. Both tavern and mill were imdoubtedly the 
first within the limits of Sullivan County. 

It is also in this immediate neighborhood that the Shaw- 
anoesberg or Council Hill is located. Here was the lodge in 
which the neighboring clans held their councils and here, ac- 
cording to a tradition of the Mamakating Indians, a bloody 
battle occurred between the local tribes and the Senecas in 
which the former were victorious, though others have it that 
they were badly licked. 

Of the road from Esopus to Minisink we find the following : 

"General Assembly, Die Sabbati, May nth, 1734. 

"The petition of Jacobus Swartwout, Wm. Provost, Wm. 
Cool and others, freeholders and inhabitants residing and living 
in Minisink, in the county of Orange and Ulster, was pre- 
sented to the House, etc., setting forth that several persons in 
West Jersey and Penna., having no other way to transport 
their produce than through the Minisink road and there was 
but about 40 miles more to repair, before they come to Eso- 
pus, etc.; that they be compelled to work on said road and 
assist in repairing it to the house of Egbert Dewitt, in the 
town of Rochester, in the county of Ulster. 

"Resolved, That leave be given to bring in a bill according 
to the prayer of the petition." 

This road ran through the valley of the Mamakating, which 

>f I't^Z. : ^'-^llnfriu. Co. USf ' Sec j >LjC>q rcifxU - 



106 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

name applied about as far north as the Council Hill above 
mentioned. 

Mr. Ruttenbcr writes that what was originally known as 
the "Mamacottin path" is more modernly known as the Old 
Mine Road, which was opened as a highway in 1756. 

During the Revolution a line of block-houses was built 
through this valley under the superintendence of James Clin- 
ton, brother of the first Governor of the State. These were 
garrisoned by soldiers who patrolled the valley and acted as 
scouts. 

The following letter, now owned by Benj. C. Swartwout, 
of Huguenot, and which I understand has never been pub- 
lished, is interesting in this connection: — 

'•Sir "Fort Montgomery 20th May 1777. 

"I have received your letter of the 29th together with one 
of the 15th Instant from Tyler & Lassly at Casheghton. I 
shall at all Times be willing to afford Aid & Protection to 
every Part of the State which the Nature of my Command & 
the Trust reposed in me will permit. In the Present Case I 
Cant think the Information given by our Friends at Cashegh- 
ton will warrant calling out the Militia, especially in this Busy 
Season of the Year. It amoxmts to no more than that two or 
three Traitors have been in that Neighborhood & were guilty 
of Insolent Expressions in that the well disposed Inhabitants 
were Jealous they were tampering with the Indians or on some 
other Bad Intent. 

"I would advise our Friends to take those Persons up & 
send them here and if any evidence of their Guilt can be of- 
fered they will not readily trouble them a second Time. In- 
deed it is my Opinion that it is too late to wait for advice what 



LEUREN KILL TO BASRA'S KILL. 107 

Steps to pursue with our Internal Enemies; if we don't de- 
stroy or Confine them they will us. 
"I am your 
most 
Obed't Servt. 

"George Clinton. 
"To Philip Swartwout, Esqr. 

"Chairman of the Committee of Pienpack." 

Over on the other side of the valley from the highway 
flows Basha's Kill, concerning whose delectabilities I find the 
following remark: "Perhaps the trout of no stream in the 
world are superior to those of Basha's Kill. One hundred 
years ago a man could catch as many there in an hour or two 
as he could carry. At certain seasons of the year salmon came 
to the same stream from the ocean." 

Tradition says Basha was an Indian squaw, queen of her 
tribe or clan, who lived on the banks of the stream, and some 
investigator has suggested that the name may be the Dutch 
diminutive for Elizabeth, but I have found identically the 
same name on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., as the name of an 
Indian squaw, and certainly there was no Dutch influence on 
that island, even if Adrian Block did clap his eyes on it in the 
long ago. The stream has also been known as Pine Kill. 

As I saw Basha's Kill at Wurtsboro in the half light of early 
evening some boys were driving the cows home and as they 
paused for a moment in the cooling flood, the picture brought 
to mind so vividly the work of George Inness that it seemed 
quite natural to look down in the grass of the foreground for 
his signature. 



108 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 



WURTSBORO AND ROUND THERE. 

We are about due at Wurtsboro, named after one of the 
chief promoters of the D. & H. Canal» Maurice Wurts. When 
the Yankees swarmed over the hills into this valley they 
counted the mountain peaks in sight and called the place 
Rome, which name it retained as late as 1812, in which year 
the first church building was erected, Dutch Reformed, and 
this building was christened the "Church of Rome", a some- 
what prophetic christening, for the Catholics gobbled it in the 
course of time. Now the manner of the christening was pecu- 
liar to the day and generation, and all right then, though it 
appears in these thrifty times somewhat wasteful. It seems 
that when the framework was raised and the building had as- 
sumed definite shape, a workman climbed to the highest point 
with a jug of the best rum the country afforded, and when at 
the peak he swimg the jug a certain number of times around 
his head and then threw it to the ground, the name of the 
church being proclaimed aloud as the good liquor was spilled 
over mother earth. 

The postoffice here was Mamakating, the place being popu- 
larly known as "Mammy Cotton Holler" until about 1825, 
when the change was made to Wurtsboro as noted above. 

While stopping for a moment to admire a Wurtsboro lane 
with apple blossom accompaniment and debating with the 
camera as to the picture possibilities here spread out, along 



WURTSBORO AND ROUND THERE. 109 

came a small girl who could give the one touch needed. She 
agreed to pose with alacrity, thanking me kindly for the privi- 
lege, and finally went on her way without even asking to see 
the picture. 

I lodged here with Mr. Gumaer, who appeared to have 
small sympathy with my idling. As his ancestors helped kill 
off the Indians in these parts it seemed as though there should 
be some tradition, or incident, or legend tucked away in his 
memory that I might adopt, and so started pumping, but the 
pump sucked from first to last, and when he finally remarked 
that he did not care whether his ancestors came over in a ship 
or a wheelbarrow, I gave him up and went down the street 
to seek whom I might devour with questions. 

So far as can be ascertained witches have not been trou- 
blesome of late in these parts, but there was a time when they 
were as serious a handicap here as was formerly the case up 
Hurley way; but those of the Mamakating were fortunate in 
having a witch finder who, through some occult power not 
revealed to ordinary mortals, was at times able to overcome 
and subdue the dread devilments. 

Now this is a true story of the way in which a certain witch 
of Wurtsboro was healed of her evil spirit. An unnamed 
farmer of these parts was possessed of a mare who in due 
course presented him with twin colts which immediately 
caught the fancy of the witches and they were wont to ride 
the new bom creatures after dusk to those haunts selected for 
the midnight orgies — at least that is the only way to account 
for the condition of those colts, who were thin and weak, with 
manes matted and tangled. Fortunately at this point the 
farmer applied to the witch finder for relief and he, after care- 
fully looking over the ground, rubbed grease in the mussed-up 



no THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

manes, soaped and unsnarled them, and put the young animals 
in pastures some distance apart. 

He then returned to the house and, while at dinner, there 
came in one who he recognized, by virtue of that peculiar 
penetration of which he alone was possessed, as a witch. The 
witch was allowed to depart all unsuspecting that her sins 
had found her out, and the witch finder immediately secured 
a shoe from the right hind foot of the mare and placed it 
among the coals in the fireplace "to get het up", and the next 
day when the witch again dropped in she was invited to re- 
main to dinner and, still unsuspicious of the deep laid plot that 
had been a hatching, accepted. 

Just as she was about to sit down to the table the horse- 
shoe, which had been heating for the past twenty-four hours, 
was slipped on the chair beneath her and, though she arose in 
a manner almost precipitate, she arose "branded a mason". 
Thus was she permanently cured of her fly-by-night inclina- 
tion, and when it was found that the manes of the colts were 
in good order the witch finder was given a quart of whiskey 
and a silver dollar for the job, and was well paid, as I think all 
will agree. 

The valley here has evidently filled in to a considerable ex- 
tent since the ice age ceased its cutting operations. Jacob 
Helm, an early settler, is authority for the statement that 
upon removing a large white pine stump he found under this, 
and some five feet below the surface, another stump of a tree 
quite as large as the one removed. This is quite in line with 
the history of that older Rome, whose ruins are builded on 
those of earlier times. 

A short half-mile before coming to the crossroads, which 
marks the centre of Wurtsboro, a spring flows from the bank 



WURTSBORO AND ROUND THERE. HI 

some ten feet below the level of the road and on the east. 
It is easy to find if one knows just where it is, but is quite as 
easily overlooked otherwise, as the footpath travels the west- 
ern edge of the highway. This is the Yaugh house spring, a 
noted watering place of the early days. There were many 
Yaugh or hunting houses along the frontier and the name is 
not very distinctive, but this particular spring was a landmark 
from which many a survey was started. 

The Indians were from early times believed to have mined 
lead among the rocks of the Shawangunk, near Wurtsboro, 
but they refused to give up the secret of the mine. Finally a 
white hunter named Miller stumbled on the spot, but made no 
use of his discovery. The information, however, was passed 
on from one generation to another until about 1817, when the 
ore was assayed and found valuable, but title to the land could 
not be perfected and the location was carefully guarded by 
those in the secret until 1836, when one of the partners, Moses 
Stanton, who had an unfortunate habit of talking in his sleep, 
thus disposed of the secret in the hearing of his son, who then 
had no difficulty in finding the exact spot. "The young man 
found the owners (of the land) and made $500 by keeping his 
ears open while his father dreamed aloud." 

Dr. Theodore C. Van Wyck was one of the original char- 
acters of his generation and this neighborhood. He was culti- 
vated and courteous, but he had his own way of saying things. 
The Doctor, while always respectful toward religion, did not 
take a very lively interest in such matters; but during a re- 
vival in the Bloomingburg church it was noted that he was a 
frequent attendant and great hopes were entertained by the 
Domine that he would be added to the fold. But the Doctor 
seemed to hang fire somehow and it was a case of hope de- 



112 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

ferred, until finally the Domine thought the time had come to 
strike a blow, and while all were on their knees the good man 
asked the Doctor to pray. "There was a solemn pause — a 
grave-like silence — the t3mipanum of every ear was eager to 
catch the first utterance from the Doctor's lips. But he was 
as silent as a graven image. Thinking he had not heard the 
first request, the good man repeated it, whereupon the Doc- 
tor spoke; 'Damn it, sir! Damn it, sir! I pay you to pray, 
sir ! you to pray, sir !' " 

The Doctor had a mare who was wholly insensible to ordi- 
nary methods of acceleration, and her driver finally made a 
goad, the application of which was easily translated by his 
four-footed friend into a hurry call. The Doctor, of course, 
was greatly pleased, and though the feelings of the mare have 
not been recorded, she gave every evidence that she was 
sensible of his pointed attentions. 

One fine day the Doctor took his small son Charles for a 
drive, and in honor of the event had a spirited young horse 
hitched to his best buggy; but he made the mistake of the 
day when he used that goad, for in a jiffy thereafter he and 
the boy were deposited by the roadside and the horse was fast 
disappearing in a cloud of dust. Neither were hurt, but 
"Charles landed where some vagrant cows had deposited 
plenty of the material from which modern chemists extract 
the 'balm of a thousand flowers'. Into and over this he rolled 
in such a way that he was smeared with it from head to foot." 
Picking the boy up, but keeping him at arm's length, the Doc- 
tor marched home and into the presence of Mrs. Van Wyck, 
and thus spoke: "He is not hurt, madam — not hurt; but 
damnably besmirched, madam — damnably besmirched." 

Just how far it is from Wurtsboro to Port Jervis seems to 



WURTSBORO AND ROUND THERE. 113 

be Open to doubt. Mr. Gumaer, above, says nineteen miles. 
The guide board makes it an even twenty, while the pedometer 
had it seventeen. Generally the pedometer agrees with my 
view of the situation, but this time I am inclined to look on 
the guide board with favor. 

About the first thing I did on getting out of Wurtsboro 
was to cross Breakfast Brook, because the road went that way. 
It seems that those traveling toward Esopus were wont to 
rendezvous here for the morning meal, hence the name. The 
Dutch called it Scufftite Kiltje, which, if my guess is a good 
one, means the same thing. It surely does if we insert a "t" 
in place of the "c" immediately after the "S". 

I recall seeing somewhere, during one of my Springtime 
jaunts through the valley, fields of sorrel in bloom, the warm 
reddish-brown combined with the soft, fresh green of the 
early season making one of the most beautiful of color 
schemes. I have never seen the sorrel massed as it was at 
this time. Sometimes an entire half acre would show nothing 
but the warm tones — sometimes the hand of the Artist had 
blended the one color into the other until it was like a shimmer 
of interchangeable silk, red or green, as the wind swayed the 
grasses. 

This for a foreground, while beyond loomed old Shawan- 
gunk darkened by the fleeting shadows of the clouds, with its 
many warm spring tints from bursting buds. The old fellow's 
sides seamed into wave after wave, each strongly delineated 
by the slanting rays of the morning light glancing across its 
many ravines. 

A mile out of Wurtsboro comes Page's Brook, which our 
highway is supposed to cross as it progresses toward the south. 
But to-day it is merely a spring on the right and a morass on 



114 THE OLD MINE ROAD. . - . . 

the left of the highway; at least it is so in dry weather. A 
dam has been stretched across this swamp and half of it turned 
into a pond, but it is quite easy to see where our friend, men- 
tioned below, found his trouble. 

There was a day when this was a broad, sluggish stream, 
the fording of which was a nightmare to those approaching, 
a curse to those in its midst and a theme of vivid conversa- 
tion for the remainder of the trip. 

On a certain Summer's day, when the flies were aggressive 
and the heat uppermost, a lone saddler niiight have been seen 
approaching this slough of despond. He was mounted on a 
lean animal, whose ruminations no doubt ran on a snack of oats 
that had once crossed the path of his youth, and there was a 
look in his eyes that was easily translated into a great longing 
for green grass. But the saddler awoke the beast out of his 
revery with a crack over the ribs that led him to negotiate the 
crossing without loss of time. 

Now the saddler had never been through this country be- 
fore and knew not the quagmire that lay beneath the surface 
of the water, and when his horse came to a halt in midstream 
he dealt out an extra kick in the ribs and an invitation to pro- 
ceed which met with but feeble response, and what little ef- 
fort his animal made seemed but to accentuate his downward 
course, for soon the rider was compelled to draw up his feet, 
and soon he sat cross-legged like any tailor. 

In the meantime his flow of words increased until it filled 
all the country side, and the saddler had no mean command of 
his mother tongue as he understood it. His cadences rose and 
fell on the atmosphere as did his stick on the shrinking ribs 
beneath him, but to no good purpose. Here was indeed a sad 
state of affairs. To stay where he was was not to be endured. 



WURTSBORO AND ROUND THERE. 115 

for his position was hotly contested by clouds of flies and 
mosquitoes ; to dismount was equally out of the question, for 
then would his feet be planted in the same sink-hole as were 
those of his horse. What wonder that he held converse with 
himself nor hesitated lest the world might hear. 

So happy, copious and potent was his vocabulary that he 
soon attracted other travelers, who hastened forward to learn 
the cause of the uproar, and through their reports of the trend 
of his remarks came the name that long exalted this fording 
place above its fellows, "Roumakers Hel", or "Saddler's Hell", 
though I cannot find it anywhere recorded that the saddler 
was held responsible for the mixed condition of his language, 
his evident sincerity apparently atoning for any seeming lack 
of polish. 

Shawangunk still keeps in touch with the landscape, which 
latter seems bent on furnishing new and varied foregrounds 
for the old fellow. Now it is a stone wall bordered by ferns 
with beautiful meadow lands beyond, then comes a brook and 
a patch of woods, a cluster of homes or some homely farm 
scene. And as one walks south the light is always changing: 
first the mountain is all in shadow and the cool morning air 
seems to come from its darkened nooks ; then the sun begins 
to send long shafts down its rugged sides, bringing into 
prominence each bump and hollow. But the sun keeps climb- 
ing and the shadows shorten, and soon it is hot work pegging 
along in the broad glare of noonday. 



116 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 



WESTBROOKVILLE TO HUGUENOT. 

Now the moving picture shows us Westbrookville, for- 
merly Basha's Land, Bessie's Land or Bashasville, named for 
Dirck Van Keuren Westbrook, first white settler here. His 
is a stone house so well kept that it suggests to the passing 
stranger only peace and plenty and gives no hint of the dark 
hours of the Revolution, when it was the fort to which fled 
the inhabitants in time of need. 

One of the patriots of the region was Elder Benjamin 
Montanye, of the Baptist Church. At a certain point in the 
game of war, when Washington felt that the next important 
move was to deceive the enemy as to his real intention, and 
he needed an absolutely trustworthy man to carry out his 
plans, he selected Montanye to bear fictitious dispatches to 
General Greene and allow himself to be captured, dispatches 
and all. It all fell out just as was planned and the British 
were so pleased with the intercepted information that they had 
an illumination in New York, and later a second illumination 
in their vacuum pans which, while possibly quite as brilliant, 
could hardly have held the attraction of the first. In the 
meantime the dispatch bearer got two months in the sugar- 
house prison as his reward. 

Beyond Westbrookville lies ten or more miles of highway 
to Port Jervis, interspersed with Cuddebackville, the Never- 
sink, Port Clinton, Huguenot (old Peenpack) and automobiles, 
those pests that, like an insistent fly, will not leave one alone. 



r WESTBROOKVILLE TO HUGUENOT. 117 

Travelers along the roads hereabouts will note frequent 
combinations of figures painted on the stone walls ; these rep- 
resent the height above sea level and have been placed re- 
cently by government surveyors who have been mapping the 
region. 

Cuddebackville (name originally spelled Caudebec) lies 
along our highway just before it crosses the Neversink. The 
canal here is kept up for a mile or more from the river for the 
purpose of furnishing power that is turned into electricity for 
the use both of Port Jervis and Middletown; this forms a 
beautiful stretch for boating and the old towpath makes a 
delightful footpath for an evening's saunterings when the long 
shadows lie on the floor of the valley below. 

There is nothing in this immediate vicinity of story or 
legend, so far as has been discovered, but Benjamin Eaton 
once lived in a lonely cabin on the mountain side, across the 
valley toward Otisville, and a bronze tablet now adorns his 
grave in the burial ground here "To perpetuate the memory 
of Benjamin Eaton, who served in the Continental Army as a 
member of the bodyguard of General Washington, 1 780-1 783 
'Conquer or die*." 

Neversink is a corruption of the Lenape word newas, "a 
promontory", and ink, "at" — "at the promontory". 

Where the canal crossed the Neversink stood until recently, 
on the south side, an old grist mill built before the Revolu- 
tion by Wm. C. Rose, who came from Connecticut. This was 
the first of the kind in Orange County. Settlers brought their 
grist from as far as Wayne County, Pa., fifty miles up the 
Delaware Valley, packing the load on their backs through the 
forest. On more than one occasion the mill did service as a 
fort. The old discarded mill stones are yet to be seen. 



118 THE OLD MINE ROAD. " 

Port Clinton is one of the birth places of Governor De Witt 
Clinton. Here is also an old Gumaer dwelling, which is lo- 
cally credited with having been a fort in the days of the 
French and Indian War. There are two opinions, however, as 
to this, so are there some who likewise scoff at a small stone 
building which the P. C.'s would have us believe was a Revo- 
lutionary fort. It does look rather new, and has windows and 
lacks portholes, and altogether was a bit difficult even for me 
to accept, and every one knows my swallow is in the best of 
condition at all times. 

It may seem to some that my capacity for marvels is re- 
markably well developed, but that is easily accounted for. 
My father used to remark that he could swallow anything that 
could get through his shirt collar, and one had but to see that 
shirt collar to appreciate how great was the old gentleman's 
ability. It began to flare the instant it left the neckband and 
made the finest kind of a funnel, and my progenitor did not 
believe in snug neckbands either. I do not wear just his kind 
of a collar, but mine does very well. 

Here is also an old log house which does not claim to be 
anything but an old log house, and as such the camera ac- 
cepted it. 

The History of Deerpark, by Peter E. Gumaer tells us that 
about 1690 Jacob Cuddeback, Thomas Swartwout, Anthony 
Swartwout, Bernardus Swartwout, Peter Gumaer, John Tyse 
and David Jamison settled in Deerpark in the central part of 
the Peenpack flats, on a knoll about three-quarters of a mile 
south of the old Gumaer stone house. Fort Gumaer was lo- 
cated on the south end of this knoll. 

The nearest settlement at that time was twenty-five to 
thirty miles toward Kingston. Cuddeback, Gumaer and one 



WESTBROOKVILLE TO HUGUENOT. 119 

of the Swartwouts were the only ones who remained and they, 
being too weak to defend themselves against the encroaching 
Jerseymen, gave to Hermanus Van Inwegen a certain por- 
tion of their land, he to live thereon and help them protect 
their property. Van Inwegen is spoken of as bold, strong and 
resolute. 

The historian gives an account of an almost-bewitchment 
about as follows : A family of Peenpack discovered one morn- 
ing after a light fall of snow the tracks of a man, or what 
appeared to be such, on the slope of their roof where no man 
could walk and were greatly alarmed, fearing it a portent of 
disaster. Having no "Lady from Philadelphia" handy by for 
consultation, they did the next best thing and repaired to the 
house of Major James Swartwout for advice. The Major 
returned with the messenger and looked the roof over, and 
as there could be no doubt about the tracks, he turned his at- 
tention to those about him and soon singled out a slave whose 
actions spoke louder than words. The Major could throw a 
blufT as well as the next man and the slave finally confessed 
that he had atttached a shoe to a long pole, and with this 
made the tracks. It almost seems a pity that the Major should 
have been so wise, for he undoubtedly ruined a first-class witch 
story in the making. 

Suppose there had been no Major to appeal to and that 
family had gone about its daily avocations in fear and trem- 
bling until some one had accidentally stepped on the tail of 
the black cat? We shudder to think what the consequences 
might have been. 

Peenpack is probably Dutch, meaning low, soft land. 

There was once an old gentleman in these parts who used 
to tell how a friendly Indian made known to his father and 



120 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

a neighbor the existence of a silver mine in the Shawangunk 
Mountain. These two worked the mine secretly, making fre- 
quent and mysterious journeys to dispose of the ore. When 
the Revolution came both went to the war, first covering the 
mouth of the mine with a flat stone and destroying all evi- 
dences of their work. 

When war was at an end, one of the miners was dead and 
the other returned to find his home burned by the Indians and 
his family fled to a distant village. The home being re-estab- 
lished he set out to again work his silver mine, but the "three 
marked trees that stood thirty paces directly east of the en- 
trance" had vanished in a forest fire, and his search was in 
vain. 

Another story tells how a boy of twelve, a great friend of 
an Indian chief, was blindfolded and taken to the mountain 
and down into the mine where, when the bandage was re- 
moved, he saw a solid vein of silver. But he was returned as 
he came and no amount of searching could discover the treas- 
ure, but "every seven years a bright light like a candle flame, 
rises at 12 o'clock at night, above the mine, and disappears 
in the clouds". Many have seen the phenomenon and sought 
its source, but none have succeeded. The last time this oc- 
curred was in July, 1906, when, according to the New York 
papers, a "large ball of fire" hovered above old Shawangunk 
several nights in succession. 

The French and Indian War caused great distress in this 
outpost region. Up to that time the whites and Indians had 
met without undue friction; but when, about 1755, the latter 
began to disappear, the settlers, knowing their treacherous 
character, began preparations for war by sending the women 
and children away. Three forts were built in the Peenpack 



WESTBROOKVILLE TO HUGUENOT. 121 

neighborhood and three next to the Delaware. The first were 
located, one on the Neversink not far from Cuddebackville, 
one at the house of Peter Gumaer and one at the house of 
William Westfall. 

The first hostile act was in 1756, when three men at work 
in the fields harvesting the crops were killed. The next was 
an attempt to capture the fort at Westfalls, occupied, as the 
Indians at the time supposed, by two lone women. But be- 
tween the time of their first reconnoiter and of the attack, a 
party of soldiers from New Jersey had arrived at the fort, and 
these were just seating themselves at the table when the In- 
dians burst in, whereupon both sets of warriors were vastly 
surprised ; but the Indians proceeded to work and the soldiers 
proceeded upstairs where they shortly gathered their scattered 
wits and opened such a destructive fire that the invaders re- 
tired precipitately. A number were killed on each side. 

The upper fort on the Neversink was surprised and burned 
and the entire garrison massacred. 

But even before this — so far back as 1730- 1740 — was there 
border warfare through this country, but a war in which the 
Indians took no part. This was the war over the boundary line 
between New York and New Jersey, and all due to a certain 
vagueness of description in the charters of the provinces. The 
New Jersey charter carried the west bounds "along said River 
or Bay (Delaware) to the Northward as far as the Northward- 
most branch of the said Bay or River, which is in latitude 41 
deg. 40 min., and crosseth over thence in a straight line to the 
latitude 41 deg. on Hudson's River". The "Northwardmost 
branch" was in dispute. The Minisink settlers who came origi- 
nally from New York were ignored by the New Jersey gov- 
ernment, which claimed all land up to a point a little south of 



122 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

Cochecton, and parceled the land among Jerseymen who 
came over the mountains, but the Dutchmen refused to give 
up their rights, hence friction. Numbers of the settlers were 
captured and lodged in Jersey prison houses; the men went 
armed at all times. 

Between 1730 and 1740 several attempts were made to oust 
a Major Swartwout from his holdings. The Major was held 
in much local reverence as a model for all heroes, and spent a 
reasonable portion of his time telling of the awful things that 
would happen to the Jerseymen should they attempt to lay 
violent hands on him or his. But the enemy came in the night 
and the Major, in spite of all his bombast, was bundled out 
into the dew in a fashion that took all the brag out of him, 
while those of New Jersey made themselves at home in his 
mansion. However he was in command of the Orange Coimty 
Militia, and gathering his cohorts around him he carried his 
one time castle by assault and the invaders were initiated into 
the walk known as Spanish then and there, the Major im- 
parting sundry kicks in his efforts to give point to his advice 
as to where they should go and, as I understand it, it was not 
New Jersey that he recommended. After this a spy was regu- 
larly kept among the Jerseymen, and thus their invasive efforts 
were usually frustrated. 

Then there was the Major's son-in-law, Harmanus Van 
Inwegen, who was also regarded as a prize by those of Jersey, 
and these peace disturbers next planned a raid for his cap- 
ture, but word was brought by the spies and a call was sent 
to the clans to meet at the Van Inwegen house. 

The call was answered by a goodly number and Major 
Swartwout assumed command as a matter of course. He ar- 
ranged his forces in line of battle, placing the left wing in 



WESTBROOKVILLE TO HUGUENOT. 123 

command of Van Inwcgen, while to Jacob Cuddeback was 
given command of the right. The feather in the Major's 
cocked hat is said to have held itself, up to the point where the 
enemy appeared in sight, with a fierceness and ferocity that 
would have done credit to the helmet of Navarre. But as the 
invaders, led on by a Jersey constable, marched on the field, 
that feather seemed somehow to have lost much of its aggres- 
sive character; it is moreover intimated that the said con- 
stable was not quite so bumptious, nor was his attitude on 
horseback so strikingly aggressive as had been the case some 
minutes before. It must be confessed that to be the only 
mounted man in such an assembly and at such a moment 
would naturally make a modest person feel unduly conspicuous. 

To tell the truth neither force seems to have expected to 
see such a formidable array on the other side, and as the dis- 
tance gradually lessened and they came within gunshot of 
each other, the Jerseymen halted in uncertain array and a 
dread silence fell that, as the minutes passed, became ex- 
tremely embarrassing. The fact is one was afraid and the 
other dasn't, and it only needed a very small event to turn the 
scale of battle either way. Fortunately for the home guard 
this was furnished by a son of the Major who, uncertain in the 
event of being ordered to shoot as to whether he should aim 
at the enemy or over its head, called to his father for instruc- 
tions, whereupon the old gentleman, remembering the former 
raid on his home, roared back in a voice that shook the hills : 
"Kill them!" 

This was too much for Jersey, whose sons had come over 
the mountain with no thought of being killed, and its ranks 
broke "like thin clouds before a Biscay gale", filled with con- 
sternation at the thought of such untimely end. 



124 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

The Major's men, knowing the lay of the land, intercepted 
the retreating braves in a ravine about two miles back and 
turned the retreat into a rout. "The only life lost was that of 
the constable's horse, which fell at the first fire, giving its 
owner a lift in the world he had not calculated on, and land- 
ing him in a bunch of brambles." 

New York returned home after running its legs off scaring 
Jersey, and that was the end of that. 

It was not until 1753 that the next attempt was made. This 
time Jersey appeared before the house of Thomas DeKay and 
demanded his surrender. The householder, however, locked 
his front door and, going to an upper window, made snoots at 
the invaders who, not looking for such opposition, were non- 
plussed and retired in confusion, vowing they would get him 
next time. 

The French and Indian War diverted both sides for some 
years and it was not until 1765 that the next and last raid took 
place. And this was indeed a bloody occasion, though no lives 
were lost. Now it was Major Johannes Westbrook who was 
selected as the victim and Sunday was the day of attack. All 
unsuspicious of the impending invasion, the community was 
attending divine worship in the Maghackemeck church, and 
when they sallied forth for the Sunday dinner they met a fight 
for which they had small stomach. 

The church was surrounded and the enemy rushed down 
on the defenseless worshippers with a soul-piercing shout that 
made them think the Devil himself had come for them. 

It being the Sabbath neither side would use weapons other 
than those furnished by the Lord, and coats and hats were soon 
off and there was as fine a shindy on as ever adorned an Irish 
holiday. Bloody noses and black eyes were the order of the 



WESTBROOKVILLE TO HUGUENOT. 125 

day, for both sides were hard hitters. But this time those 
from the south were in such force that they overwhelmed 
their opponents and Major Westbrook was carried a prisoner 
over the mountain. 

In 1767 commissions were appointed by the two colonies 
to run a boundary line, but owing to the bitterness of feeling 
they dared not attempt it, and it was some time later that the 
disputed territory was surveyed and about equally divided. 



126 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 



PORT JERVIS AND CARPENTER'S POINT. 

In 1789 the present site of Port Jervis was known as Na- 
hant and, while the town is modern — 1826 — ^having been made 
by the canal, it was included in the Minisink country and there 
is yet standing here the stone house of Martinus Decker, 
built possibly about 1759, when Martinus was married to Jen- 
neke Westbrook, known as Johannes Decker's fort. This was 
burned out by the Indians on July 19, 1779, but the solid stone 
walls were not injured and in 1797 Johannes Decker repaired 
the place and it stands to-day, on Main Street, Germantown, 
as he left it. After burning this building the Indians sepa- 
rated, one party proceeding to Peter Coikendall's, where they 
stopped long enough to burn him out and then went on to 
Van Aukens, whose outbuildings were burned, but the house 
was not attempted, as Levi Paulding was in command here 
with troops. 

Prof. John M. Dolph, who has made a close study of the 
subject, believes that the first attack by Brant and his Indians 
in their descent on this valley was on the Decker house, which 
they captured and burned. The Indians then divided, one 
party crossing the Neversink and raiding along its east bank 
while the other followed near the river, destroying farm build- 
ings, the old church and the residences at what is now Tri 
States. 

They then reunited at Fort Van Auken, which was at- 



PORT JERVIS AND CARPENTER'S POINT. 127 

tacked on the night of July 20, 1779, and it was on the follow- 
ing morning that old Jacobus Van Auken, looking out of an 
upper window to see if the besiegers had retired, was shot 
and killed by one of them. 

When Count Pulaski was ordered from the Minisink coun- 
try to South Carolina, this region was left practically defense- 
less and Joseph Brant, recognizing his opportunity, immedi- 
ately planned an invasion of the Delaware River settlements. 
His force of Tories and Indians expected to surprise the sleep- 
ing inhabitants at night, but were delayed several hours and 
did not arrive until noon of July 20, 1779. 

The palisaded house of Major Johannes Decker, on the east 
side of the Neversink, was burned. The women and children of 
the family (all those at home) were compelled to stand by 
and see the destruction, though none were harmed. Brant 
even went so far as to allow Mrs. Decker to save what she 
could from the blazing building and directed his Indians to 
carry what she brought out to a place of safety. 

It is said that a reward had been offered by the British 
for the capture of the Major, and that one of the objects of 
Brant's raid was the earning of this reward. But fortunately 
the Major was away, attending a funeral at Fort Van Auken, 
and it was while returning from this that he came upon a 
party of Indians in a bend of the road and dashed through the 
surprised savages so quickly that they failed to even fire at him. 
Fearing to meet a larger party beyond, he wheeled and rode 
back through the same group and was wounded twice before 
clearing them. 

Then the frightened horse plunged into a fallen tree and 
had to be deserted. The Major hid in a cave and crossed the 
mountain next morning to Finchville, where he found his son. 



128 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

one of the scholars who escaped when the teacher, Jeremiah 
Van Auken, was murdered. 

The invaders next destroyed several houses, a mill and the 
schoolhouse, where they killed and scalped Jeremiah Van 
Auken, the teacher. There is an interesting story in connec- 
tion with this that seems to be well corroborated. The school 
boys fled to the woods, but the girls stood in a helpless huddle 
about the body of their teacher, expecting every moment to be 
scalped, or at least carried off, when Brant himself came 
upon the group and placed a black mark upon the apron of 
each, telling the girls that if an Indian approached to hold it 
up and they would be safe. The girls appear to have kept 
their wits well, for they are said to have hunted up their 
brothers and placed them under their garments, and thus all 
were protected by the marked aprons. Brant had said that he 
did not make war on women and children. 

It was after this that the attack was made on the Daniel 
Van Auken fort, on the present Laux farm, on the east side of 
the Neversink. This failed, two Indians being killed in the at- 
tempt, though, as previously stated, they managed to pot-shot 
old Jacobus at an upper window. 

Brant's report of the raid made to Colonel Bolton is inter- 
esting. It was dated at Oquwage (Deposit), 29th July, 1779, 
and so far as relates to the destruction of the settlement is as 
follows : — 

"I beg leave to acquaint you that I arrived here last night 
from Minisink and was a good deal disappointed that I could 
not get into that place at the time I wished to do— a little be- 
fore daylight — instead of which I did not arrive until noon, 
when all the cattle was in the woods, so that we could get but 
a few of them. We have burned all the settlement called 



PORT JERVIS AND CARPENTER'S POINT. 129 

Minisink, one excepted, round which we lay before about an 
hour and had one man killed and two wounded ; we destroyed 
several small stockaded forts and took four scalps and three 
prisoners, but did not in the least injure women and chil- 
dren. The reason that we could not take more of them 
was owing to the many forts about the place, into which they 
were always ready to run like ground-hogs." 

The Battle of the Minisink followed sharp on the heels of 
this raid. As soon as the news was carried to Goshen, such 
men as could hastily formed a company and marched over into 
the Minisink country to afford relief. But on the high bank 
of the Delaware, above Port Jervis, they were outmanoeuvred 
by the Indians with disastrous results. 

Lawyer Harrison W. Nanny has been at the history of 
this battle until he has knocked the legs off pretty much all 
the interesting little stories connected therewith, and about 
all one can say now without fear of contradiction, is that the 
whites were badly defeated and many were killed. It was 
some years ago that Mr. Nanny sprung this sad surprise, 
and we hope that his legal business has since become so ex- 
tensive and exacting that he has had no more time to destroy 
our stories and legends. 

As usual the settlers at first held such religious services as 
they could in private houses, but by 1736 the means were col- 
lected for the construction of four churches. The first, called 
the Mackhackemeck Church, was located about one-half mile 
south of where Port Jervis now stands and about one-half 
mile from the junction of the Delaware and Neversink Rivers, 
by the old burying ground. The second was about eight miles 
southwest from above, just around the bend in the road be- 
yond Brick House, and was called the Minisink Church. The 



130 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

third was sixteen miles further on, in New Jersey, and was 
called the Walpack Church. The fourth was eight or ten miles 
distant from the Walpack and called the Smithfield Church — 
this on the Pennsylvania side of the river, near the Depuc 
place. John Casparus Fryenmuth, Dutch Reformed, was the 
first pastor, and he covered the entire stretch. Preachers were 
scarce in those days and it seems that the settlement at 
Rochester made overtures to the Rev. Fryenmuth, which were 
resented by the Minisink flocks, and this is the way they voiced 
their sentiments : — 

"Minisink, Dec. 6th, 1741. 

"To the Rev. Consistory of Rochester, greeting: — 

"We, your servants, having learned that you have had cor- 
respondence with our pastor, and have seduced him, so far as 
to send him a call, thinking that the large amount of salary 
promised him will induce him to leave us — the Lord who has 
thus far caused your acts of supplanting to fail will further 
direct them to a good end. We find ourselves bound to obey 
the command of the Saviour, 'Do good to them that hate you*; 
we therefore will deal with you hereafter, as we have before, 
'doing you good'. It is true that you give us no thanks for 
his services among you. You are bold enough to say that he 
has eight free Sundays during the year, which is as true as 
the assertion of the Devil to Eve, 'You will not surely die'. 

"If you desire, then, to have our minister four or six times 
during the year, we will grant your wish cheerfully, and leave 
it with our pastor to settle with you as to the amount of his 
compensation. If this cannot prevent the execution of your 
unjust intention, and the Lord wishes to use you as a rod to 
chasten us, we shall console ourselves with his gracious words, 
Heb. 12, 'Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and he re- 



PORT JERVIS AND CARPENTER'S POINT. 131 

bukes every son whom he adopts'. If it please the Lord to per- 
mit you to deprive us of our pastor, then we hope that your 
consciences will not be seared so much as to take away our 
livelihood, amounting to £125 12s 6d (overpaid salary). 

"Should this, however, be the case, then we will not hesi- 
tate to give the matter into the hands of a worldly judge. We 
expect your answer, and conclude our discourse with the wish 
that the grace of our Lord and the love of God the Father, 
and the communion of the Holy Ghost, may remain with you 
until a blessed eternity. Amen. We remain your servants, 

"John Cortright, 
"John Van Vliet, 
"Abm. Van Campen, 
"William Cole." 
It is about time to proceed with our tramp, but before we 
get too far away there is a little matter of a witch which should 
have our attention. 

This was an ancient dame named Mollie Oldfield, who 
lived a solitary life (about one-half mile southwest of Mills- 
burg, in the town of Minisink — in the matters of history it is 
well to be as accurate as possible), who came in time to be 
regarded as one "holding communion with the damned", and 
was dreaded and feared by the entire neighborhood; she 
pinched the children in their sleep and furnished every ill the 
countryside was heir to. 

One day Captain Brown, having some business with the 
old lady, did not transact it to her liking, whereupon she pro- 
nounced his doom with, "Never mind. Captain Brown, you 
will be sorry for this some day", and the Captain was imme- 
diately sorry, for a great dread straightway filled all the va- 
cant places in his top story. Soon his cows gave bloody milk. 



132 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

the Old Boy got into the churn and the butter refused to 
come; but the Captain knew a trick or two himself and, 
gathering all the horse shoes he could find — this was a des- 
perate case, and one would hardly cover the job — he heated 
them red hot and plunged them in the cream, whereupon arose 
a great steam, against which no witch can stand (a too strong 
suggestion of the next sphere of action, possibly), and as the 
witch vanished the butter came. 

Then there was the case of another neighbor, one James 
Neily, who crossed the path of the old lady at a wrong angle; 
the trouble here was also with his cattle, to whom the witch 
furnished wings that they might fly the coop, so to speak. 
And always did he find them in his fields of growing grain 
and no fences broken down, or any evidence of forcible entry. 
It did no good to watch ; so long as a watch was kept nothing 
happened, but no sooner did James turn his back than over the 
fence his cattle flew again. But Neily, being possessed of a 
hard head and plenty of common sense, made friends with the 
mammon of unrighteousness in the person of Mrs. O., and his 
cattle thereafter remained within bounds. 

The old woman's death was a tragic one, but one which 
she appears to have brought on herself. It seems that one day 
an inoffensive neighbor attempted to ride past her hovel on 
the old family mare, when the animal refused to pass the door 
in spite of all blows and known forms of speech, whereupon 
the rider, in the heat of argument, struck the horse on the 
head with a stone, killing her instantly. The next day a per- 
son entering this abode of darkness found the woman dead 
and blood issuing from her mouth and nose, and it was evident 
to all that she had for some reason taken possession of the 
mare and the blow that killed one killed both. So recently as 



PORT JERVIS AND CARPENTER'S POINT. 133 

1887 one of the jury of inquest, then a very old man, was still 
living, and I understand these facts came first hand from him 
and are absolutely correct. 

The trolley disposes of a mile or so to the outskirts of Port 
Jervis, setting us down at the entrance of the Carpenter's 
Point burial ground, and we walk down to the Tri-States' 
monument at the point for the sake of the view, so typical is 
it of the "Hudson River School" of a generation ago : a beau- 
tiful foreground of river with distant forest and more distant 
mountains fading off into the blue, and all framed with the 
branches of nearby trees, a spot to conjure dreams. The In- 
dian name of the river was Keht-hanne, **the greatest stream" ; 
also Lenapewihittuck, "the river of the Lenapc". It was also 
known as the Minisink's River, which word means "Indians 
of the highlands", or "of the rocks". 

On the outermost rock of all stands a low marker indicat- 
ing the corner where New York, New Jersey and Pennsyl- 
vania come in touch with each other. While above it, on the 
bank, stands a stone which tells the traveler that this is the 
"Witness Monument, 1882. South 64 degrees, W. 72^/^ 
feet from this is the Tri State Rock, which is the Northwest 
end of the New York and New Jersey Boundary and the 
North end of the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Boundary", 
and again, "The corner between New York and Pennsylvania 
is in the center of the Delaware River, 475 feet due west of the 
Tri State Rock". 



134 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 



MONTAGUE. 



"Minisink was that expanse of land lying west of the 
Shawangunk Mountains, about forty miles long by the same 
distance in width, including portions of Orange and Sullivan 
Counties, and of northern New Jersey", and we will now work 
our way back to the highway and proceed toward the discov- 
ery of its southernmost bound at Walpack Bend, or Flat- 
brookville. 

After crossing the Neversink our way keeps well out of 
sight of the Delaware through the rich flat lands that in times 
past have been brought down from above and deposited here 
that those who live by the sweat of their brow might sweat to 
good purpose. 

The highway is as dusty as a miller and not always the 
pleasantest place in the world for a tramp, but one is pretty 
sure to find a farmer going his way and to catch a ride if he 
wants it. Some two or three miles along and on the river side 
of the road stands the Van Auken house, which the present 
occupant, Mrs. F. E. Westfall, states was built by her great- 
great-great-grandfather, a Van Auken. The lady herself is of 
age to have grown children, so that counting twenty-five years 
to a generation, the building may be 175 years of age, which 
would carry it back to the days of border warfare between 
the inhabitants of the two provinces, and yet I cannot find 
that it is the nucleus of any tale or legend that can claim an 
age half so great. 



MONTAGUE. 135 

Next on the list come Shippekonk rocks, a smooth rock 
slide from the top of the ridge to the valley's floor. The name 
is Indian, and is also applied to an island in the river, but its 
meaning is hidden. 

Some four or five miles below Carpenter's Point one comes 
on a small family graveyard in the corner of a field, and close 
on the right. Here lies Christopher Decker and his wife, grand- 
parents of Mr. Demmon Reynolds, of Napanoch, whose 
"mother had relations enough killed by the Indians to make a 
nice little chunk of burying ground". 

The Decker home, which stood nearby, was a refuge often 
sought by Tom Quick, the noted Indian slayer, and Mr. 
Reynolds's mother who, as a girl, was many times carried 
across the Delaware at Punkey's Rift in the arms of this hero 
of the countryside, has filled him o'er and o'er with stories 
which she heard recounted by the great man himself. Some 
of the legends current in these days Mr. R. knows are not so, 
because his mother never heard them from Tom — such as, for 
instance, the split log trap wherein Tom caught several In- 
dians by their fingers. But many others are well authenti- 
cated, because this mighty hunter of the redskins told them 
on himself, and who should know better. The following story 
explains the reason for Tom's bitter hatred of the Indians and 
tells why and how he disposed of one of them. 

The father of Tom Quick, a Hollander who immigrated 
to this country about 1733, was old and gouty, but he liked 
to see how the farm was coming on, and occasionally his two 
sons would help him out around the place. On one such occa- 
sion, when a considerable distance from the house, a party of 
Indians broke from the woods after them. The Quicks were 
unarmed, and could but run for it, so the boys took the old 



136 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

man, one on each side, and started for the house. Tom's 
brother was hit by a bullet, but not seriously hurt; but the 
father was heavy and helpless, and begged his boys to drop 
him and save themselves, else all would be slaughtered. 

It was a hard sort of a proposition, but the arguments of 
the elder were perfectly sound, and the boys finally left him 
to his fate. 

The Indians killed and scalped the old man, cut off his head 
and kicked it over the ground. Among the things taken from 
his body was a pair of silver knee buckles. 

Long after, when peace had been declared, Tom Quick and 
some of his boon companions were drinking and playing cards 
in a tavern near where the village of Milford now stands, when 
an Indian, exhausted with cold and hunger, came in and 
begged for a drink. It was against the law to give an Indian 
liquor, but because of his condition they gave him a dram to 
take the chill off, and it was probably a hearty one, for the 
visitor soon showed signs of overindulgence and began to 
brag of his past deeds of prowess, displaying the buckles 
which Tom recognized as those taken from his father and 
saying over and over in a bragging tone, "Me Tom Quick, 
now; me Tom Quick, now". 

The brutal way in which his father had been killed and 
the body treated had led Tom to swear never to let an Indian 
get away from him alive if he could help it, and Tom paid 
brutality with brutality, though aside from his treatment of 
the Indians and a fondness for drink he was well regarded by 
his neighbors. 

When Tom saw those buckles and heard the insulting 
brag it aroused all his old-time hatred and he arose quietly 
from the table and walked toward the fireplace, over which 



MONTAGUE. 137 

hung a gun, but the landlord, divining his purpose, stopped 
Tom and reminded him that it was the closed season for In- 
dians then and to kill the fellow in the house would cause 
serious trouble for all present. 

The Indian had talked of how he was a mighty hunter and 
had given a promiscuous invitation to the company to go hunt- 
ing with him, and now Tom accepted his offer. Of course, all 
knew what that meant— all but the Indian— and the two went 
off together. The snow was deep and Tom went on ahead to 
break a path, and while doing so heard the unsuccessful snap 
of the Indian's gun and, turning, asked what he had tried to 
shoot, to which the Indian responded "an eagle", and they 
went on. 

Soon Tom claimed to be tired, and told the Indian to take 
his turn at breaking the path and, good, innocent soul that he 
was, the gentle savage did as requested, and it was not long 
before those at the tavern heard Tom's gun, and shortly there- 
after saw him returning with the silver buckles. 

Tom lived in a cabin in the woods in which he was one 
day trapped by the Indians, who for once had him off his 
guard. He was a captive beyond price, and they immediately 
concluded to take him to the headwaters of the Susquehanna 
and there build a great fire in honor of the event. 

The snow was deep and the Indians had tramped long that 
day, and they concluded to remain in the cabin over night, so 
Tom's hands were tied and his moccasins taken from him, in 
the belief that he would not venture barefoot into the heavy 
drifts outside, and his captors lay down to sleep. Tom paced 
the floor like a caged lion, but every time he passed the door 
his elbow pushed up the wooden latch a bit until, as the In- 



138 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

dians were about dropping off to sleep he had the door where 
one slight push would swing it open. 

When the time seemed propitious Tom opened the door 
and started with a bound down hill. Some noise he made 
awakened the Indians, and they were after him almost in- 
stantly, and it was only a lucky accident that saved him. The 
day had been mild enough to cause some melting of the snow 
and this in turn had created a dense fog. Tom, being unable 
to see much of anything, tripped before he had gone far and 
fell, sinking deep into a drift. The pursuers were hot on his 
track, but overshot the mark, and as Tom lay still they finally 
gave up the search and he managed to wriggle out of his cool 
nest and eventually found his way to the Decker house, where 
it took three weeks to bring his frozen feet back to usefulness. 

These stories do not agree very well with those published 
in the "Original Life and Adventures of Tom Quick" ; in fact 
one of them is not to be found therein at all and the other 
combines incidents distributed between two separate tales in 
the book, but in view of the direct way in which they have 
been handed down from Tom himself and the intimate rela- 
tions existing between the hero and the ancestors of Mr. 
Reynolds, it is reasonable to suppose that they are quite as 
likely to be correct as are the accounts hitherto published. 

We are passing through the township of Montague, which 
is said to contain the most valuable land in the Minisink 
patent, and shortly come on Millville, where Chambers Brook 
performs after the manner of brooks that have been dammed 
from their youth up. There was not much room for a mill 
pond here, and as time went on the little pond evidently filled 
up, when the miller, instead of cleaning it out, built another 
dam higher up in the gap; at least that is the way it looks 



MONTAGUE. 139 

from the road to a stranger who finds no one handy by of 
whom to ask questions. 

Millville is the site of a revolutionary blockhouse, and the 
knoll here is known as Block House Hill. Mr. Thomas J. 
Bonnell, of Port Jervis, tells me this was the headquarters of 
Capt. James Bonnell, who commanded at the Minisink during 
the Revolution. Mr. T. J. B. has an interesting manuscript 
book in which his ancestor, first a Justice of the Peace and 
later a Captain, kept his record of trials, copies of important 
letters, orders to the troops under him, petitions, etc. 

Copies of a few of the more interesting of these are given 
below ; — 

Minisink 4th Apl. 1782. 
Sir — Inclosed is a Return of Amunition wanting for my 
Company, I wish it may be forwarded with all Posib. dis- 
patch, as it is a matter of the greatest Magnitude Occationed 
by the Enemies being Hourly expected to dis(?) our 
Frontiers, and my Amunition being nearly Exhausted — if 
you have any loose Powder I wish you'd send a few 
Pounds in Room of Cartridges for the Riflemen who scout 
the woods. I am Sir 

Your very Humble Servt. 

Ja. Bonnell, Capt. 
Comd.g at Minisink. 
Lt. Hamilton. 

Minisink, 15th May 1782. 
Sir 

On monday the 4th Instant I summond you to Apeare 
before me at the House of Capt. Shimer the ss to answer 
the Complaint of Abraham Cuddeback, you neither ap- 
peared nor assignd any reason for your Nonattendence ; I 
hereby Notify you that next Monday at twelve OClock at 
the House of Capt. Westbrook in Sandiston is the time and 



140 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

place Appointed for settling your dispute, and unless you 
attend you must Abide the Consequences of your neglect. 
Sir your hum'l Servent 

Ja: Bonnell. 
Mr. Cox. 

Minisink 15th May 1782. 
Dear Sir 

Yesterday three Indians was discovered on the Penn- 
sylvania shore opposite to Walpack Capt. Hover imediately 
Persued them with a number of good Fellows. What suck- 
sess I have not yet learnt; Pray let me know if you have 
made any discoveries of the Savages. 
I am Sir 

Your humble Servent 

Ja; Bonnell. 
Capt. Westfall 

Comd.g at Peanpack. 

Thursday Morning 4th July 1782. 
This being the glorious Anniversary of American In- 
dependence The men of Capt. Bonnell's Compy will Parade 
this Afternoon Percisely at 4 O Clock, to Fire a Fudejoy 
on so Auspicious an Occasion. 

The men will appear on Parade in the neatest manner 
Posible. Each man with his beard Clean shaved, hair 
neatly cut, clothes put on in the best order Possible, guns 
Perfectly Clean & a large green Bough in each Hatt — the 
least disobedience of this Order will meet with the most 
Serverest Punishment. 

Ja: Bonnell Capt. 

Comd.g at Minisink. 

Minisink loth December 1782. 
His Excellency Governor Livingston and the Honour- 
able Legislative Council, and General Assembly of New 
Jersey. 



MONTAGUE. - 141 

Gentlemen 

We the Inhabitants of the Frontiers of the County of 
Sussex beg leave to Present our Petition to the Honourable 
Legislature of the State. 

The Inhabitants who formerly lived on the Pennsyl- 
vania Side of the River Opposite to us have Principally 
left there Farms and Moved into Jersey and other places 
to Escape Savage Cruelty. 

These Inhabitants was formerly a Considerable Guard 
to us, but now there is nothing to stop the Enemy but the 
River which is Fordable in a great Number of Places a 
Considerable part of the year, Particularly in Harvest and 
Other times when the Enemy Can do us the Greatest Dam- 
mage. 

The Situation of this Country and the manner the sav- 
ages Carry on the War like a Thief in the Night renders it 
Impracticable to depend on the Malitia for Security, for 
before they can be Collected the Mischief is done and the 
Enemy Secure in the Wilderness. 

Numbers of us have Friends and near Relations who 
have ben Torn from there Families and Connections and 
are Groaning under Cruel Savage Captivity. 

Others Labour under the Sad Remembrance of having 
experienced the Truly Shocking Spectacle of Seing there 
Dearest Connections Brutally Murderd and Scalped be- 
fore there Eyes and we have grate reason to fear we shall 
share the Same Fate unless some mode be Addopted for 
our Security. 

We therefore most earnestly pray that a Law may be 
passed by the Honourable Legislature before the Adjourn 
for raising a Company of about Eighty men Properly Of- 
ficered and to be Stationed here for our Protection the en- 
suing Campaign. 

signed by the inhabitants 

& forwarded by Capt. Bonnell 



142 THE OLD MINE ROAD, 

It is but a brief step now to Montague and Brick House, 
which latter is the name generally used on guide boards. 
Brick House was built in 1776 by Roger Clark of bricks of an 
odd size that were manufactured within three-quarters of a 
mile of the spot, and from the beginning was a noted stopping 
place. For a long time the New York to Oswego stage made 
this one of its regular places of call. 

Judge James Stoll tried for many years to get possession 
of the place, but he and Clark never agreed very well and the 
latter refused to sell. So the Judge persuaded a Philadelphia 
liquor dealer to buy the inn for him, and Clark readily fell 
into the trap. The Judge wished a patch of land alongside 
for a garden, and this the Philadelphian insisted on. Once the 
bargain was made, the Judge shortly came into possession, 
and though he never ran the place himself, he always made a 
bargain with his tenant-landlord that the latter buy all his 
liquor from the store run by Stoll across the road. 

The road running straight away from the front of the 
Brick House is the old stage route to Deckertown and Jersey 
City. 

In 1774 there stood on the site of the Brick House an old 
log cabin occupied by Daniel Decker and his vrouw Grietje. 
One June day as the latter stood in the meadow in front of 
her home, engaged in boiling soap, Daniel the Valiant came 
rushing by with a wild cry of "Indians! Indians!" and ex- 
horting his good woman to escape as best she could, himself 
crawled into a hollow log through a knothole of which he 
could safely gaze on the coming trouble. But the woman was 
made of sterner stuff and calmly continued her soap boiling, 
when shortly two redskins appeared on the scene, and with 
nothing more dangerous in view than a woman they ap- 



MONTAGUE. 143 

preached, scalping knife in hand, each anxious to secure the 
prize. 

Grietje stood her ground apparently unaware of her im- 
pending doom, until the headmost foe was almost on her when, 
turning suddenly with a ladle of boiling soap, she dashed it 
squarely in his face and he put up a howl which gave the best 
of evidence that he felt hurt, and turned himself to the nearby 
brook for comfort — that same brook that to-day gurgles 
pleasantly past the end of the Brick House. His companion, 
not understanding such mode of warfare nor appreciating the 
force of the woman's argument, and only noting that a kind 
Providence had intervened in his behalf and that the scalp 
was his for the lifting, came promptly forward and received 
a like application that took all the starch out of him, and he in 
turn interviewed the brook. 

If the savages did not enjoy it, neither did they quite un- 
derstand this new method of treatment, but they had acquired 
a healthy respect for Grietje, and stood afar off while they 
wondered what had happened to them. For some time they 
debated the situation, but finally concluded that discretion was 
their best card, and after firing the cabin they disappeared in 
the woods. 

When the danger was all over, the lord of creation crawled 
out of his hole, and approached his better half with a light 
remark to such effect as, "Didn't we fix 'em, though?" Now> 
the old lady was in no mood for trifling and, turning savagely 
on Daniel, she gave him a dipper filled to the brim with that 
boiling soap — at least she gave him the soap, keeping the dip- 
per for further argument, if need be — and remarking at the 
same time: "There, you old fool; go and lay in your holler 
log till you get cooled off, you old coward, you. I'll teach 



144 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

you!" and Daniel he went, not for the hollow log, but for that 
blessed stream, which for the third time that day proved to be 
balm and healing. 

A new cabin was soon built, but opposite to the old one, 
and "Uncle Dan'l" drew a picture of Grietje in the act of 
dousing the Indians, which for years graced its walls; but in 
1793, the old couple being dead, the cabin was pulled down 
and the picture was lost. 

As before mentioned, one of the series of early churches 
built in Minisink was located here, just around the bend of 
the road beyond the Brick House. It is told locally of the 
Rev. Elias Van Benschoten, called in 1785 to be pastor of 
the three Dutch churches of Machackemech, Minisink and 
Walpack, that when preaching his farewell sermon to this 
congregation the peroration concluded with, "Hogs I found 
you, hogs I leave you, and the Devil may receive you". It 
would appear as though the old gentleman was not in an al- 
together amiable frame of mind at the moment. 

There is a story current concerning Major Nyce and Polly 
Hoornbeck, which, if I have it correctly, runs something like 
this: The Major, when a young man, counted Polly among 
his friends and was wont to call on her occasionally, but he 
never seems to have hit it up very swift and one night Polly, 
who was sitting on the opposite side of the fireplace from him, 
began to jerk herself and say, "Stop, now; leave me alone". 
The young man looked on in a maze for a few moments, 
but finally managed to blurt out: "Why, Polly, what's the 
matter with you? I ain't a techin' you." "Well", responds 
the girl, "you devilish fool; if you ain't a-going to you better 
go home". It is not recorded that the gentleman left imme« 
diately. 



MONTAGUE. 145 

As our road continues south it is not quite so much of a 
traveled highway, though one can still kick up a good deal 
of dust as far as Dingman's Ferry under average conditions. 

A mile or so south of Brick House, and in the field north of 
and adjoining the residence of the brothers Black, lies ''Spook 
Hollow". It is now cultivated groimd, but within memory 
was wooded and a place of mystery and fear to young and old. 
One graybeard tells how, in his youthful days, he pattered 
past as fast as a pair of short legs would take him, lest a witch 
might get him; but he never had any actual encounter, nor 
did any of his friends, so far as he knows. 

This was undoubtedly one of those secret places in the 
woods where, once on a time, the devils met with the would- 
be witches at midnight, there together to feast and dance. 
Through the air at such times would come coursing panthers, 
wolves and lesser terrors, from over hills, mountains and val- 
leys. Toads and serpents were on hand to be worshipped, and 
just before day broke, and after signing their souls over to 
the Evil One, the witches were endowed with power to rule 
and ruin their fellow men. 

Small wonder that Spook Hollow was passed in haste by 
honest folk. 

"Ye hag is astride 
This night, for to ride. 
The Devil and she together. 
Through thick and through thin, 
Now out and now in. 
Though ne'er so foul be the weather. 

"A thorn or a burr 
She takes for a spur 
With the lash of a bramble she rides now 



J46 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

Through brakes and through briars 

O'er ditches and mires 

She follows the spirit that guides now." 

—Robert Herrick. 

A sad case of undeluding is said to have happened to a true 
believer, whose wife went on a visit to Esopus many, many 
years ago. 

From the very start her man had trouble with the cows; 
they insisted on kicking him and treating him in a most dis- 
respectful manner, and when he tried to churn, the butter 
positively refused to come. So he called in his friend, the 
witch doctor, who builded an altar of stones in the barnyard 
and cast a spell over it. He then by incantations discovered 
that the absent wife was a witch, who had put a spell on cattle 
and churn when she left, and warned the husband not to allow 
the woman inside the house until she promised on the Bible 
not to have anything more to do with the Devil. 

Now the wife returned in due course and when her hus- 
band explained the situation to her, she, after one look at the 
cattle, thus remarked : "You old fool, the cows have the kine- 
pox ; the butter would not come because you put no hot water 
in it, and I would just like a tomahawk and scalping knife to 
go for that quack doctor. I am going into my house in spite 
of your witch spell and the Devil" — and in she went, and first 
thing she did was to cure her husband, and while the process 
is said to have been painful to a degree, it is understood to 
have been thoroughly effective ; after which she took the cows 
in hand. 



SANDYSTON AND WALPACK. 147 



SANDYSTON AND WALPACK. 

Some quarter of a mile below Spook Hollow stands a 
building known as the "Fort", a simple one-story-smd-attic 
dwelling whose loopholes for muskets still gape on those out- 
side its walls. 

Here in the early days settled Johannis Westbrook on one 
side of the little stream which divided the towns of Montague 
and Sandyston, while on the other side was reared the home 
of Daniel Westfall. The one still standing is the house of 
Captain Westbrook, in Sandyston, mentioned in the second 
letter of "Ja : Bonnell", quoted above. 

This, I presume, is the stone fort known as Nomanoc, and 
was undoubtedly the rallying point for some little distance up 
and down the river. It was from here that Capt. Peter West- 
brook sallied forth with his men to the battle of the Raymonds- 
kill, or Conashaugh, April 21, 1780, which was fought just over 
the river in Pennsylvania where the Captain, Lieutenant Ennis 
and twelve others were killed. Those remaining retreated be- 
low Cave Bank, and the place is called Death Eddy to this day. 
Another account places the battle in 1778, says that Captain 
Westbrook escaped badly wounded to a canoe, and that two 
or three men of the expedition were lost. 

It was also from this fort that seven men went out to death 
while in the performance of duty. Word had been brought in 
that Indians were in the neighborhood and a party of scouts 
was sent out. These found in the light snow moccasined foot- 



148 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

prints near the river bank at Death Eddy, and while they were 
bunched and in the act of examining them the Indians, who 
were ambushed behind the bank, shot and killed the entire 
party. This was about a half mile below the fort. 

About 1739 the most important settlement in the valley was 
located here, opposite Minisink and Nomanoc Islands. A 
public school was established in 1731. 

The roadmakers have a way of running highways in as 
straight a line as the nature of the ground will permit, and as 
the flat lands on this east side of the Delaware are quite ex- 
tensive above Dingman's, the road gives the impression of 
deliberately avoiding the river as much as possible, even run- 
ning over the toes of the hills to do so, and all the traveler 
knows about the river here is what the map says. 

Several stone houses are passed that suggest a possibility 
of stories and things, but if there are such they are a sealed 
book, and we will keep on down the highway. Dingman's 
Ferry is now a modern iron bridge that is merely useful, and 
we pass on without even a look and begin the climb over the 
ridge that in days long gone took quite a fall out of the river. 
It must have been a good deal like rolling out of one of those 
old-fashioned, four-post bedsteads that required a stepladder 
introduction. But the ridge has been worn through until now 
it hardly causes a ripple of excitement. 

But the wayfarer still has a long hill to pull over, known 
here as Pompey Ridge — below as Walpack Hill. On one occa- 
sion this traveler found himself near the top of the hill as 
night was coming on, and kept on over into Peters Valley, ad- 
joining, where was bed and board at Bevens P. O. 

Those who cater to the needs and comfort of the public 
here are not early risers. My landlady announced that the 



SANDYSTON AND WALPACK. 149 

morning meal might happen any time between 6 and 7 o'clock. 
As a matter of fact it did not happen until nearly 8 ; there was 
plenty of it, though, and reasonably good for the price, one 
dollar for supper, bed and breakfast. When the meal was 
ready the good woman went into the bar and thumped on the 
ceiling with the broom, and in due course her men came troop- 
ing down stairs. Dressing consisted of getting into trousers, 
shirt and shoes, and did not take long. 

Once back to the hilltop from the place of my night's lodg- 
ing, I found the down grade of the river road quite as long as 
the upward climb of last evening, but it's down. The views 
from both slopes include mountain and river and are always 
beautiful. Sometimes one strikes the eye more forcibly, some- 
times the other ; it depends largely on atmospheric conditions 
and how the shadows lie, but the southern slope, it seems to 
me, furnishes a more varied assortment of foregrounds — at 
least such is the impression that remains. 

And then this down grade carries one to the very edge of 
the river, even if it is only for a moment, and right here is a 
spot where I came on a clump of wild flowers or escapes that 
were altogether different from old acquaintances in the line, 
one to two feet high and perched on the end of the stem ; the 
petals started in green and continued to the end in the most 
brilliant scarlet, lighting up the meadow in quite as brilliant 
fashion as does England's poppy. 

We are on the outposts of Schapanach. October 15, 1735, 
Adam Dingman purchased land here. And here lay the farm 
of John Cleves Symmes, who about 1760 removed from Long 
Island to these western wilds. His wife, Anna, mother-in-law 
of President Harrison, lies in the old burial ground on the 
hill at the left as we go. It was John Cleves, Jr., who was 



150 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

the author of the theory that the north pole was a hole in the 
ground. 

The log church, Dutch, erected previous to the Revolution 
at this points was in use as late as 1826. Just below this burial 
ground formerly stood, on the lower end of the knoll which 
commands an extended view up and down the river, the old 
fort erected during the French and Indian War and which, 
during the Revolution, was part of the dwelling of Col. John 
Rosenkrans. 

The old stone house still standing just under and south of 
this knoll was probably built by Isaac Van Campen, member 
of the Legislature from 1782 to 1785. An iron fireback made 
for the house at the Oxford Furnace bears date 1742. About 
181 1 this property was purchased from Abraham Van Campen 
by Henry De Witt, of Rochester, for his son John H. DeWitt, 
who built the peculiar long-roofed barn still standing. When 
in 1829 slavery was abolished in New Jersey, the only slave in 
Sussex County was Caesar, belonging to the De Witts here; 
he refused his freedom. 

In 1776 a band of prowling Indians captured three Wal- 
pack settlers, McGinnis, Teal and Courtright, in broad day and 
escaped across the river into the wilds of Pennsylvania before 
the alarm was given. 

Capt. Emmanuel Hoover immediately gathered a party of 
men and started in pursuit. The Captain was an eminently 
efficient leader and all were thorough woodsmen; as the sav- 
ages were trailed scouts were thrown ahead to prevent a sur- 
prise. It was not long before McGinnis was found murdered 
and scalped, and this spurred on the pursuers who, by care and 
expedition, came on the unsuspicious savages preparing their 
camp for the night. 



SANDYSTON AND WALPACK. tSt 

In the midst of the camp the other prisoners could be seen 
tied hand and foot, and Hoover gave his men directions to sur- 
round the camp, and after all were asleep to close in on a 
given signal, but under no circumstances to fire a gun until 
the signal was given. As the hours crept on the net was drawn 
closer and closer and the time had almost arrived for the at- 
tack when an Indian arose to replenish the fast dying fire. 
The sight so aroused the fury of a friend of the murdered Mc- 
Ginnis that he forgot everything in his desire for revenge and 
shot the Indian dead. The camp was of course in instant com- 
motion, the warriors merely staying long enough to attempt 
the killing of their prisoners, and then plunged into the outer 
darkness where further pursuit was out of the question. 

The bonds were cut and the released men hurried away from 
the dangerous firelight before inquiry was made as to their con- 
dition, when it was found that Teal had escaped unhurt, while 
Courtright was severely wounded. 

There was now nothing to do but return home with the 
one red scalp when they should have had those of all the party, 
and shouldering their wounded neighbor the return journey 
was made as quickly as possible. (Above is condensed from 
an account written in 1879 by W. H. Layton, who stated that; 
he had the facts from a sketch written by a grandson of An- 
drew Dingman.) 

From now on to Flatbrookville a succession of woodland 
and river views follow each other in beautiful profusion. The 
scent of the wild strawberry burdens the air, if it be mid June, 
while great masses of laurel bloom, or the more scattered clus- 
ters of rhododendron border the way. 

We pass a rustic watering trough, and next a ruined log 
house, and just as the road is about to swing onto the river's 



152 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

edge and at the foot of an enormous double tree on the west, 
wells a spring of pure cold water that is a great find for the 
thirsty traveler — a plank step through the fence shows the 
way. 

Here is the most beautiful river view of the entire trip. 
The bank, which the road follows closely at this point, is 
bordered by great trees whose branches frame the loveliest of 
pictures of mountain and stream, rocks and sandy points, with 
possibly a lone fisherman enjoying his vacation idle. 

This part of the road is but little used, at one spot so over- 
grown is it with weeds that it is undecipherable, but a few 
feet in advance, and so dense is the thicket on the riverside that 
the water is hardly to be seen. An emerald tunnel through 
primeval woods where the scarlet tanager flits, and walled in 
places with the rhododendron. 

"Glooms of the live-oaks, beautiful-braided and woven 
With intricate shades of the vines that myriad-cloven 
Clamber the forks of the multiform boughs, — 

Emerald twilights, — 

Virginal shy lights, 
Wrought of the leaves to allure to the whisper of vows, 
When lovers pace timidly down through the green colonnades 
Of the dim sweet woods, of the dear dark woods. 
Of the heavenly woods and glades 
That run to the radiant marginal sand-beach within 
The wide sea-marshes of Glynn ; — 

"Beautiful glooms, soft dusks in the noon-day fire, — 
Wildwood privacies, closets of lone desire, 
Chamber from chamber parted with wavering arras of leaves, — 
Cells for the passionate pleasure of prayer to the soul that 
grieves, 



SANDYSTON AND WALPACK. 153 

Pure with a sense of the passing of saints through the wood, 
Cool for the dutiful weighing of ill with good ; — " 

— Sidney Lanier. 

Finally there comes a point where one must cross the Wal- 
pack Hill or take the long way around to Flatbrookville, and 
if it is the far end of the day, when every half mile counts, it's 
likely you would go over the hill as I did. At first our uplift 
is an interesting woods road where the shade is very grateful 
on a warm day and where all manner of wild flowers abound. 
A stiff climb for a half mile or so. 

Then comes a crossroad with a farmhouse and a suggestion 
of cultivation, then some up-and-downness, and finally the de- 
cline to Flat Brook, a trout stream of no mean reputation. 

Flatbrookville has a back-woods flavor that immediately 
appeals to one. The stream is harnessed to a little saw and 
grist mill, there is here a hotel and a store, and a few houses 
that straggle down the road in a casually careless sort of 
fashion. The talk is of fish and fishing and the farmers com- 
plain that the deer eat up their garden truck. 

From an address delivered by Mr. B. B. Edsall, at the Sus- 
sex County Centenary, we learn that the first settlement in the 
county was that along our Old Mine Road. That in 1738 the 
only grist mill in the county was on Flat Brook near the Dela- 
ware River, and that one of the first three saw mills in the 
county was on Flat Brook. That in 1738 the county contained 
not more than 5-600 inhabitants, and that wagons were then 
unknown in Sussex save in the Minisink region. 

At the mouth of the brook in the Delaware is the remark- 
able whirlpool, the Indian name of which, Wahlpeck, meaning 
whirlpool, gives name to the township according to Hecke- 



154 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

welder. Mr. Ruttenbcr says that it is probably a corruption of 
Walpeek, meaning "deep water", and was formerly the name 
of a lake. 

The hotel boasts an indolent old cat that can furnish a ten- 
minute entertainment to guests whenever she wishes. It ap- 
pears that tabby is very fond of lying in the dust of the road, 
but no sooner does she settle down than the bam swallows 
proceed to have fun with her ladyship — it can be nothing else. 
The birds swoop down within an inch or less of pussy's 
whiskers, causing her at times to jump back from the too close 
contact. Occasionally she makes a quick move with intent to 
intercept their flight, but by the time her paw is out the bird is 
fifty feet hence, and finally Mistress Pussy, unable to stand it 
longer, retires to cover. I saw the operation twice repeated 
and was told that it was of frequent occurrence and that never 
yet, so far as known, had one of the birds been caught. 

The first mail route, 1852, was established from Flatbrook- 
ville to Newton my way of Millbrook, Hardwick and Still- 
water. . 



PAHAQUARRY. 1S5 



PAHAQUARRY. 



Our road, after crossing Flat Brook, immediately begins 
the ascent of the Kittatinny Moimtain, which is the New 
Jersey continuation of old Shawangunk, and soon one is in a 
position to look down on Walpack Bend, or down stream as 
far as the atmosphere will allow. 

The first crossroad carries the traveler along the side of 
the hill and may be the original mine road, but the interest lies 
in the village of Millbrook and along the banks of Vancampens 
Brook, as the map calls it, and it is thus we will go. 

There are only two villages in the entire township of Pa- 
haquarry, which is nothing but a side hill anjrway, and Mill- 
brook is one of them. Here in 1839 came Coonrad Welter, 
known to his neighbors as "Coon". His house soon became 
a home for all the circuit riders and preachers who visited the 
place, and was known as the "Methodist Tavern". Some of 
the circuits covered a five hundred mile trail, and the preachers 
commonly carried a tin horn with mighty blasts from which 
they announced their arrival. 

There was no church building here until i860. 

The brook is a very pleasant companion as it ambles along 
down its little valley, until it takes to jumping the rocks, when 
it sounds from the road as though it was going all to smash ; 
however, we catch it a little later dodging under the highway 
in such manner as would indicate that it can be entirely cheer- 
ful under the most adverse conditions. 



156 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

Shortly after leaving Mill Brook to waste its substance on 
the Delaware we come on an old Van Campen house, built 
something less than two hundred years ago; its exact age is 
lost in the mist, but it was erected by a Van Campen, and 
Abraham Van C, the first, came to the Pahaquarry flats about 
1720. 

It is related that in the Spring of 1780 Major Moses Van 
Campen, who was born in this house, was captured by Indians 
with intent to take him to the headwaters of the Susquehanna, 
or some other inaccessible region, and there make a holiday of 
him, but apparently the captors did not figure on the Major's 
disinclination to be roasted and scalped. 

The story, as abbreviated from the "Life of Van Campen", 
is as follows : After the Wyoming massacre such inhabitants 
as escaped spent their spare time in those forts which were 
nearest to their farms, but the temptation to return and cul- 
tivate the farms was strong within them. Thus the Major, 
with his father and younger brother, an uncle and cousin, and 
one Peter Pence, left Fort Wheeler, near Wyoming, for their 
clearings four miles distant. They were surprised, the father 
and brother murdered and scalped before his eyes and the 
Major himself taken prisoner ; on the adjoining farm his uncle 
was killed and the boy and Peter Pence taken prisoners. 

Then came the march toward Niagara, but before going far 
the family of one Pike was captured. The wife and child were 
allowed to go after being deprived of most of their clothing, 
but Pike was taken along with the others. 

Van Campen had mixed with Indians all his life and knew 
them well, he was the bravest of the brave, had been with Sul- 
livan when the Iroquois country was raided, and because of his 
character and ability was usually selected for the post of dan- 



PAHAQUARRY. 157 

ger. He had at one time invaded a camp of sleeping Indians, 
counted those around one camp fire, counted the number of 
camp fires and escaped without detection, though the redskins 
numbered some seven hundred. 

In his present position his thoughts naturally turned 
toward escape, and he began counselling his fellow prisoners 
with that end in view, but they could only see that they were 
three unarmed men against ten armed foes, and in order to 
arouse them to the situation Van Campen reminded his friends 
that they, being the first prisoners taken after the Sullivan 
raid, would undoubtedly be subjected to torture, and that they 
might better give up their lives in an attempt to escape, rather 
than supinely wait for such a terrible end, but even then it 
devolved on him to make all the plans. 

His idea was to take the first opportunity that offered while 
their captors slept and take them at a disadvantage, and 
planned to have Pence station himself by the guns, which were 
always stacked about a tree, while he and Pike, with hatchets, 
should dispatch as many as possible before the enemy could as- 
sume the offensive. 

The captives were tied every night, but while they were 
lying about the fire one evening, an Indian dropped a knife 
which the Major covered with his foot, and when all were 
asleep he worked his way out carefully and with the knife cut 
the bonds of his companions who, in turn, cut his. Pence im- 
mediately placed himself by the stacked guns. Pike with a 
hatchet was placed where he could quickly brain two of the 
savages, and Van Campen where he could kill three ; but just 
at this critical moment the two assigned to Pike stirred and he, 
losing his nerve, lay down, but the Major recognized the situa- 
tion as one calling for dispatch and quickly buried his hatchet 



158 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

in the heads of the two half-aroused men and then turned to 
the three originally set apart for him. As he struck down the 
last of these Pence opened fire with the guns and killed four. 

Now there was but one left and he, not fully comprehend- 
ing the situation, sprang for the guns and then, discovering his 
error, turned and fled for the cover of the woods with Van 
Campen close upon him. The latter raised his hatchet to 
strike, but missed the Indian's head and buried the blade in 
his shoulder. At the same instant both slipped and fell and 
grappled on the ground as they were; then came a struggle 
of giants. The blood from his foe's wound blinded the Major 
and put him at a disadvantage, but knowing that the Indian 
was feeling for his scalping knife and that quick action was 
required, he caught his toes in the belt of his adversary and 
with a mighty shove broke his hold and threw him several 
feet. The moment spent in searching for the hatchet gave the 
Indian an opportunity to reach the cover of the dark woods 
and the fight was over. Nine had been killed and one wounded 
man escaped. 

Under such conditions the firelight was always dangerous 
and the three men gathered the booty as quickly as possible 
and retired to the cover of darkness to await the coming of 
day when they could with safety, take up their march for 
home. The booty consisted of twelve guns, one of which was 
Van Campen's own, blankets, coats, the nine Indian scalps and 
two white scalps which had been taken early in the raid. 

In later years the Indian who escaped met Van Campen and 
identified himself by the scar in his back. Both were notable 
men among their kind, strong and courageous, and it is said 
they became good friends. 

The Moravian Memorials quote Albert G. Broadhead as 



PAHAQUARRY. 159 

authority for the statement that John Adams, while attend- 
ing Congress in Philadelphia, as late as 1800, used the Old 
Mine Road as a link in the most eligible route from Boston to 
that city. "He was accustomed to lodge at Esquire Van 
Campen's in the Jersey Minisink". The general opinion seems 
to be that it was at this Van Campen house that Adams 
stopped, though if I understand it aright the Minisink only 
reached so far south as Walpack Bend, and if so it may have 
been at the Van Campen house in Shappanack. 

There is yet another old stone house as I tramped, but it 
has been modernized to meet the needs of the Summer boarder 
and only its stout stone walls remain to suggest a tale. This 
was the home of Henry Shoemaker, a soldier of the Revolu- 
tion. It seems that there was in this region an over enthusi- 
astic, though it would appear a highly indiscreet, Tory, one 
Jim Barton by name. 

Now Barton was unwise enough to hit a bigger man than 
himself with highly disastrous results. One night he waylaid 
and insulted Shoemaker, who climbed down from his horse 
and thrashed the Tory until he cried enough. But while the 
captor was willing to drop this line of argument he was not 
through, for he made Barton march down the road ahead of 
him to the house of George Michaels where the two fitted out 
their guest with a suit of tar and feathers and allowed him to 
depart in peace. 

The objective of all these many pages is the Mine Holes of 
Pahaquarry, and we have come to them, but before proceeding 
with our own investigation, it may be well to introduce a few 
notes on the subject of mining in this region taken from a 
paper read before the Minisink Valley Historical Society, by 
Mr. J. H. Wood, on February 28, 1889. 



160 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

Mr. Wood states that there existed a tradition handed down 
from the Indians that lead could be found on Tibb's Meadow 
tract, a half mile south of Culver's Gap in Sandyston. About 
thirty-five years ago some work was done here by Joseph 
Layton, but he was apparently unsuccessful, and abandoned 
the project. 

Some seven miles south of this are signs of copper. Deeds 
of some one hundred acres here made in 1748 and 1759 men- 
tioned a copper mine, the location of which is now unknown. 

Two miles south of Walpack Center is an excavation under 
a large rock, showing traces of silver ore, and on an adjoining 
farm are veins of copper, which can be traced for some ten or 
eleven miles to the old copper mines of Pahaquarry. 

One supposed to be posted has stated that one of the old 
mine holes of Pahaquarry was never made by a miner, as it 
was contrary to all rules and would entail a heavy expense to 
miss the vein a foot. 

B. B. Edsall, deceased, "the best informed historian in the 
county of Sussex", said the pioneer settlement of Pahaquarry 
was made by Hollanders as early as 1664, and possibly prior to 
that date. 

So much for what Mr. Wood dug out. The location of 
the copper mine holes is near Shoemaker's old "Union Hotel", 
about half way between Walpack Bend and the Water Gap, 
on Mine Brook, and it was here that our road terminated. 

When I first came this way, in the Spring of 1907, there 
was a great noise of blasting. The price of copper was up and 
some gentleman of persuasive ways, believing that the mining 
of this ore would pay, started a company, sold stock and 
erected buildings containing much machinery, when, lo! the 
price of copper dropped and another dream was busted. 



PAHAQUARRY. 161 

Now all is as quiet as it was after the Dutchmen got 
through two hundred and fifty years ago. The two mine holes 
are a few hundred feet up the small brook that seems quite 
happy again now that the mercenaries are gone. The two holes 
are two holes from my point of view and that is about all there 
is to be said of them. No one knows who the original miners 
were, but the supposition is that they were some of the earli- 
est Dutch explorers who disappeared long enough before the 
first actual settlers came to leave no memory or legend of 
themselves that is foimded on anything more substantial 
than air. The surroundings are romantic and beautiful in the 
extreme, and it is a wonderful spot for a person with a well- 
trained imagination, provided he is careful not to sit down on 
a rattlesnake. 

Just below is the scow ferry which takes the traveler across 
to Shanoe, where still stands the house of Nicholas Depue, who 
came this way about 1720, a man who is frequently mentioned 
in the old records. 

When the rivers were frozen there was a good road from 
the mine holes to Esopus, over which (1730) wheat and cider 
were carried out and salt and necessaries brought back. Pos- 
sibly our Old Mine Road at this time was little more than a 
bridle path. 

When a navigable channel was opened through Foul Rift 
and it was possible to get out by boat, trade turned down 
stream and the road became less and less traveled. 

The remaining miles to the Water Gap on the Jersey side 
keep in fairly close touch with the river; there is some culti- 
vable land, all of which is taken advantage of for the purpose 
of keeping alive the Summer boarder. One Worthington owns 
a stretch about so wide and some two miles long which in- 



162 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

eludes all the hilltop and has been turned into a deer park. 
This is all very nice and interesting for Mr. W., but a few 
Winters back when he found it difficult to feed his animals he 
calmly broke down his fences and turned the hungry and un- 
discriminating creatures loose on the farmers — at least, so the 
farmers say — and they do not appear to like it even to a small 
degree, for there is no open season in New Jersey for the killing 
of deer, and nothing pleases a deer better than a vegetable 
garden. 

The highway for a mile along here is a quiet woodland road 
bordered with rhododendron and retaining the damp of the 
deep woods long after all else is dry and dusty ; now and then 
some small brook does a fancy tumble or the waters drip from 
the moss-covered rocks. 

As we come opposite the buildings which make the Gap 
settlement it has been found necessary to shave off the rocks 
in order to make way for the road. Still further down the 
water washed the base of a cliff so steep that even the Indian 
could not scale its face. This is still known as "Indian Lad- 
der" because they here used a tree which leaned against the 
rock face by which to ascend. This was replaced later by the 
whites with a rope ladder, but the spot was always regarded as 
a dangerous one, until the engineer came with his drills and 
dynamite. 

We have not only come to the end of our journey, but have 
nm past it by some miles, for one must get home about a cer- 
tain time in order to earn another vacation, and it's down here 
that the railroad is. 



APPENDIX. 



MATTERS PERTAINING TO THE SENATE 
HOUSE, HURLEY. 



APPENDIX. 165 



APPENDIX. 



Copy of the will of Jan Van Dusen, who owned the Senate 
House of Hurley when the Senate sat therein. 

Liber C. Page 256. Surrogate's Office; Kingston, New 
York. 

Will was probated April 25, 1801. 

Joshua Gasherie, Surrogate. 
In the name of God Amen. I Jan Van dusen of the 
Township of Hurley County of Ulster and State of New 
York being weak in body but of Sound Memeory (blessed 
be God) do this seventh day of September in the year of 
our Lord Christ, one thousand seven hundred and Eighty 
one make and publish this my last Will and Testament in 
the manner following 

Imprimis it is my will and I do order that all my Just 
debts and funeral Charges shall be paid within a convenient 
time after my Decease by my Executors hereafter named, 
Item I give and devise unto my son John Vandusen my 
House I now live in with the Lott of land it Stands on also 
the bam and all other buildings thereon with the Orchard 
adjoining the same and also my meadow which lays below 
the hill near Jacobus Hardenberghs, known by the name 
of the fley, with all the Appurtenances thereunto belonging 
with all my black Smith tools and also my case of draws 
which I bought of my brother in law Cornelius Winkoop, 
to have and to hold unto him, my said son his heirs and 
assigns for Ever, Item I give and devise unto my two 
Daughters Catharine and Mary my lott of land laying on 
the north side of the Esopus kill or Creek also my lott of 



166 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

land lajring on the south side of said kill or Creek known 
by the name of the Sheep pasture and also my large Cub' 
bert which I got with their mother my late deceased wife 
to be by them Equally Divided, and to be held by them their 
heirs and assigns for Ever, Item I give to my said two 
Daughters my two Largest Looking glasses, Catharine to 
have the Largest and Mary to have the smallest, Item it is 
my will and order that my son John pay to each of my said 
two daughters, the Sum of Twenty five Pounds, Current 
Money of the State of New York, and that within two years 
after my decease, Item I give to my beloved wife Rachel the 
Southeast Room of my dwelling House with the Seller 
which is Under the same, to be by her Occupied, and not 
otherwise so that she shall not have the Renting of the 
same, or allow any other person or persons to live in said 
Room (unless part of her family) which is only given and 
to be occupied as aforesaid, during her Widdowhood or 
natural lifetime which Ever may happen first ; Also I give 
to my Said wife one fourth of the apples which shall grow 
in the orchard given to my Son John during said time and 
also one fourth of my garden for the time aforesaid, Item I 
give to my said wife the bed we lodge in with the bedstead 
Hangings Covering and everything thereunto belonging, 
one small Cubbert two sheep one Cow one Square Table two 
pales two milk kulers one pot one Trammel atongs and 
Shovel, and a pair of Andirons, Item I give to my said wife 
the Sum of twenty pounds Current Money of the State of 
New York to be paid within one year after my Decease by 
my Executor herein to be named and all the rest and resi- 
due of my Goods Chattels and personal Estate whatever I 
give to my said son John and my two daughters Catharine 
and Mary to be by them equally divided, Item I will and 
declare what I have herein before given to my said wife 
shall be and I do hereby declare the same to be in full barr 
and satisfaction of her dower and claim of thirds in or to 
my said Estate or any part thereof and I do make and 
ordain my said son John sole Executor to perform the true 



APPENDIX. 167 

intent and meaning in this my will mentioned. In witness 
whereof I the said Jan Vandusen have to this my last Will 
and Testament Set my hand and Seal the day and year 
above written. [Signed] JAN VANDUESEN. 

[L. S.] 

Signed sealed and Delivered by the said Jan Vandusen 
as and for his last will and Testament in the presence of us 
who were present at the Signing and Sealing thereof. 

Lucos Elmendorf, 
Cornl Dubois, 
Huybert Ostrander. 

Deed of the Senate House, Hurley, which furnishes the 
earliest known date showing age of building; date of erection 
is not known : — 

THIS INDENTURE made the sixteenth Day of Feb- 
ruary in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hun- 
dred and fifteen Between Henry DeWitt of the Town of 
Hurley in the County of Ulster and State of New York 
Party of the first part And John G. Krom of the Town of 
Esopus in the County of Ulster aforesaid party of the 
second part WITNESSETH that the party of the first for 
and in consideration of the sum of Fifteen Hundred Dol- 
lars current money of the State of New York to him in 
hand paid by the said party of the second part, at and be- 
fore the ensealing and delivery of these presents the Re- 
ceipt whereof the said party of the first part doth hereby 
Acknowledge and therewith is fully satisfied contented and 
paid hath granted, bargained, sold, aliened, remised, re- 
leased, conveyed, assured, enfeoffed, and confirmed, fully, 
freely, and absolutely, by these presents, unto the said 
party of the second part his heirs and assigns forever. All 
that certain lot of ground with all the buildings thereon 
erected situate on the northeasterly side of the Street in the 
town of Hurley aforesaid nearly opposite to the meeting 
house or church, which was on the first day of February in 



168 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

the year 1743-4 Conveyed by John Van Deusen unto his 
son John Van Deusen Junior, as the same is therein butted 
and bounded and described as follows, viz. Between the 
house lot of Derick Roosa and the ground of Huybert Suy- 
landt, being in length from the street Northeast two De- 
grees Easterly Four chains fifty eight links, Then in 
breadth in the rear East southeast six Degrees thirty min- 
utes southerly Four chains seventy nine links. Then to the 
lot of Huybert Suylandt Southwest Four Degrees thirty 
minutes Westerly Two chains Eighty one links, then by the 
rear of Huybert Suylandts lot, Northwest One Degree 
northerly Two chains twenty one links, then in length by 
said Huybert Suylandts lot to the street west two degrees 
westerly Four chains, then in breadth by the street Two 
chains twenty three links. Containing Three acres and 
thirty roods TOGETHER with all and singular the appur- 
tenances, privileges and advantages whatsoever, unto the 
above mentioned and described premises, in any wise ap- 
pertaining or belonging; and the Reversion and Rever- 
sions remainder and remainders, rents issues and profits 
thereof ; And also all the Estate, right, title, interest, prop- 
erty, claim And demand whatsoever, as well in Law as in 
equity of the said party of the first, of in and to the same, 
or any & every parcel thereof with the appurtenances TO 
HAVE AND TO HOLD the above granted, bargained 
and described premises with the Appurtenances unto the 
said party of the second part his heirs and assigns for their 
own proper use, benefit and behoof forever; And the said 
party of the first part for his heirs executors and adminis- 
trators, covenant, promise, grant and agree to and with 
the said party of the second part his heirs and assigns, that 
the said party of the first, at the time of ensealing and de- 
livery of these presents is lawfully seized in his own right of 
in and to the aforesaid described premises, hereby granted 
and conveyed with the appurtenances as a good free, per- 
fect, absolute and indefeasable estate of inheritance in Law, 
in fee simple and that he has not done committed, executed. 



APPENDIX. 169 

or suffered any act or acts, thing or things whatsoever 
whereby the said lot of land, tenements and premises 
above mentioned or any part thereof, now are or hereafter 
may be impeached or incumbered, in title, charge, estate or 
otherwise, so as in any manner of condition to alter, change 
determine or defeat the same; And has in himself good 
right full power, and lawful authority, to grant bargain sell, 
convey and Release the above described land and premises 
with the appurtenances unto the said party of the second 
part his heirs and assigns in manner aforesaid. And also 
that the said party of the second part his heirs and assigns 
shall and may from time to time and at all times and for- 
ever hereafter peaceably and quietly have, hold Occupy 
possess and enjoy the said hereby granted and bargained 
premises with the appurtenances And the said party of the 
first part his heirs all and singular the above mentioned 
premises and every of their appurtenances unto him the 
said party of the second part his heirs and assigns against 
him the said party of the first part his heirs And against all 
and every other person and persons whatsoever, shall and 
will warrant and forever defend by these presents IN WIT- 
NESS whereof the parties to these presents have hereunto 
interchangeably set their hands and seals the day and year 
first above written. 

SEALED AND DELIVERED IN THE PRESENCE 
OF 

Peter P. Roosa 

Henry DeWitt 
Jno. A. DeWitt 



170 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 



A brief history of the canal and its inception, taken princi- 
pally from chapter XX. of the "History of New York Canals", 
Vol. I., 1905, by Noble E. Whitford, who confines himself 
strictly to the engineering and financial problems encountered ; 
its ultimate success and a few brief statistical notes. 

My library friends say there is no other work on the canal 
— not even so much as a magazine article can be found. Mr. 
Whitford does not touch on the cement industry which was 
developed by the canal, nor on any other phase of local devel- 
opment due to the opening of this water-way, and we must be 
content with what he gives us. 



THE DELAWARE AND HUDSON CANAL. 171 



THE DELAWARE AND HUDSON CANAL. 

With the exception of the comparatively unimportant 
Junction Canal, the Delaware and Hudson is the only enter- 
prise of its kind in the state that remained in the hands of its 
original projectors through all the difficulties and doubts of its 
babyhood. 

The enterprise was conceived by Maurice Wurts of Phila- 
delphia, whose brother William was fond of taking long tramps 
(even as you and I) through northeastern Pennsylvania. 
About 1812, while in one of these periods of wanderlust, he 
was attracted by the black stones which he noticed cropping 
out of the ground here and there. With specimens carried to 
Philadelphia he and his brothers, Charles and Maurice, be- 
came convinced of its value as a fuel. On rafts William floated 
a few tons to their home city, but the public received it coldly 
and it was not until 1820, when 365 tons were shipped, that 
the industry of coal mining began, though it was five years 
more before the business assumed any proportions whatever. 
In the meantime, however, the Wurts brothers had made ex- 
tensive purchases of the waste land in this inaccessible wilder- 
ness which proved of immense value as the industry grew. 

To supply Philadelphia and the South was comparatively 
easy, it was down stream; but New York and the East was 
another proposition, and this Maurice Wurts set about solv- 
ing by securing first, from the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1822- 
3 an act "To Improve the Navigation of the Lackawaxen 
River"; second, through the incorporation by the New York 
Legislature, April 23, 1823, of "The President, Managers and 
Company of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company", 
which was authorized to construct a canal from a point on the 



172 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

Delaware River, through Orange, Sullivan and Ulster Counties 
to a point on the Hudson River. G. B. Vroom, Philip Hone, 
Lynde Catlin, Jonathan Thompson, Garret B. Abeel, George 
Janeway and Elisha Tibbits of New York; George D. Wick- 
ham and Hector Craig of Orange County; Abraham Has- 
brouck and John C. Brodhead of Ulster County, were author- 
ized as commissioners to receive subscriptions to the capital 
stock. 

In the Spring of 1823 Maurice and William Wurts secured 
the services of Judge Benjamin Wright, chief engineer of the 
Erie Canal, and instructed him "to have a proper survey or 
running level carried over the country from tidewater of the 
Hudson River, at the mouth of the Walkill, up the valley of 
the Rondout, and thence over to the Delaware River, and 
thence up the same to the confluence of the Lackawaxen, and 
thence up the Lackawaxen to a point as near to the coal mines 
as possible". Judge Wright being unable to undertake the 
work in person, engaged Mr. John B. Mills, a young engineer 
of promise, to make the reconnaissance, and Mr. Mills com- 
pleted his work in September, 1823. 

Next Col. John L. Sullivan, a man of practical knowledge, 
was engaged to go over the ground, and his report is dated 
January 7, 1824, his estimate of the cost being $1,208,632.95, 
the canal to be 117 miles in length and its primary object the 
introduction of coal into the State of New York. 

On April 7, 1824, Nev/ York amended the act of incorpora- 
tion, increasing the capital stock from $500,000 to $1,500,000 
and the powers of the company, which originally covered only 
the stretch between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers, were 
extended along the latter river from Carpenter's Point to the 
mouth of the Lackawaxen, and on November 16, 1824, the 
charter was further amended, allowing the company to use 
$500,000 of paid-in capital in the business of banking in the 
city of New York and to issue notes to the amoimt of $1,500,- 
000 on condition that the canal should be commenced within 
six months after electing a board of managers, and that they 



THE DELAWARE AND HUDSON CANAL. 173 

should expend at least $150,000 a year on construction and 
should complete the canal within seven years; the banking 
privilege to continue for twenty years only. 

The first board of managers was organized on March 8, 
1825; Philip Hone was selected President and John Bolton 
Treasurer. The managers were John Bolton, Philip Hone, 
Garret B. Abeel, Samuel Whittemore, Hezekiah B. Pierpont, 
Rufus L. Lord, Wm. H. Ireland, Benjamin W. Rogers, John 
Hunter, Thomas Tileston, Wm. W. Russell, Wm. Calder and 
Henry Thomas. 

April I, 1825, an act was secured from the State of Penn- 
sylvania permitting the company, with the consent of Maurice 
Wurts, to improve the Lackawaxen and to operate the canal 
thereon and charge tolls. 

The services of Judge Benjamin Wright as engineer, and 
John B. Jervis, as his assistant, were engaged, and these sur- 
veyed the proposed route and recommended the construction 
of an independent canal throughout, instead of using slack- 
water navigation in the Rondout, Delaware and Lackawaxen 
rivers, as had at first been proposed. Also that locks be con- 
structed of stone instead of wood, as originally intended, as 
water limestone had been discovered in abundance, and they 
estimated the cost at about $1,600,000. These recommenda- 
tions were adopted. The company then concluded a bargain 
with the members of the Lackawaxen Company, as we are 
told, for the purchase of their coal mines and their rights and 
privileges in Pennsylvania for $40,000 in cash, and deferred 
stock to the amount of $200,000, which was to bear dividends 
only after two semi-annual dividends of 3 per cent each upon 
the original stock should have been declared and a clear sur- 
plus of $12,000 should remain. 

On July 13, 1825, the ceremony of breaking ground on the 
summit level, forty miles from the Hudson, was performed and 
on December 6th the last contract was signed for the construc- 
tion of the canal between Eddy's Factory on the Hudson and 
Montgaup on the Delaware, a distance of sixty-five miles, this 



174 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

portion of the work passing through a valley by which at some 
remote period the Delaware is believed to have added its 
waters to those of the Hudson. From the termination of the 
line under contract to the mouth of the Lackawaxen was fifteen 
miles. 

The managers determined to abandon the plan of a slack- 
water navigation in the Delaware in favor of an independent 
canal on the New York shore, but made no contracts for this 
portion that that already under contract might not be delayed, 
it being their desire to connect the two rivers within the year 
1826. 

On October 26, 1826, under instructions from Judge Wright, 
Engineer Mills began a survey for an extension of the canal 
westward from the mouth of the Lackawaxen as far as De- 
posit, sixty-eight miles. The estimates for this were $870,- 
236.95. 

By this time the available funds were exhausted and a me- 
morial was addressed to the Legislature of New York asking 
the State to aid in completing the canal, and on March 10, 
1827, special certificates of stock to the amount of $500,000 
were authorized, to be redeemable at the pleasure of the State 
after twenty years, the company being required to give a first 
mortgage on all its lands and privileges. 

Work on the Delaware River section was delayed by ex- 
cessive wet weather and unforeseen delays occurred in the 
construction of the Delaware-Hudson section, but water was 
finally admitted late in the season of 1827 and some boats 
passed from river to river, but it was not until October, 1829, 
that the canal was actually open for business. 

The financial resources of the company were again at a 
low ebb and the Legislature was asked to come to its assist- 
ance, which it did on May 2, 1829, by authorizing the issue of 
additional certificates of stock to the extent of $300,000. In a 
glowing tribute paid by the Legislative Committee to the en- 
terprise of the company, it is incidentally mentioned that it 
had imported the first and only locomotive engines as yet in- 



THE DELAWARE AND HUDSON CANAL. 173 

troduced into this country. All were "agreed in their (steam 
railroads) great superiority over turnpike roads, and in their 
near approach to canals in respect to cheapness and facility of 
transportation". 

By this time Judge Wright had resigned and Mr. Jervis 
was in charge as chief engineer. In 1829 7,000 tons of hard 
coal were carried to tidewater by way of the canal, the length 
of which is given as 59 miles from Kingston to Port Jervis, 22 
miles on the Delaware River and 25 miles on the Lackawaxen 
to Honesdale, the system ending with 16 miles of railway to 
the mines. The total elevation overcome by locks, of which 
there were no in all, was 1,073 ^^et. The coal brought to 
market in 1829 was surface coal of inferior quality and its use 
led to considerable public prejudice. 

In 1 83 1 the canal tolls for the year were $19,394.05, the 
railway tolls $1,160.59, the total sales of coal were over 70,000 
tons, a clear profit of $34,000 being shown; 11,872 tons of mer- 
chandise were transported. 

In 1833, 111,177 toJ^s of coal were brought down, but this 
resulted in an enormous overstock owing to a general business 
depression, and in 1834 only 43,700 tons were transported. 
Dividends of 8 per cent were paid in 1839, the first paid with 
the exception of 1832, and with the exception of 1842, when 
10 per cent was divided, 8 per cent dividends were maintained 
for many years. 

In 1840, 148,480 tons were brought down. In 1844 the 
banking charter expired and was not renewed. In 1848 the 
construction of the Erie Railway and its rock blasting opera- 
tions along the Delaware caused trouble. The canal started 
with a depth of 4 feet, by 1850 6 feet was to be the minimum. 
The State loans due in 1848 and 1850 were promptly paid and 
the company was freed from outside indebtedness. 

Maurice Wurts, conceded to be the originator of the com- 
pany and the one whose name had been associated with its in- 
terests since its earliest inception, died in 1854. 

The company's profits were now ranging from 10 to 24 per 



176 THE OLD MINE ROAD. 

cent per annum. In 1864 the capital stock appears to have 
been raised to $10,000,000 and on this amount the next year's 
statement showed 31 per cent net earnings. 

From now on the company became a great transportation 
machine, owning railroads and telegraph lines, and the canal 
gradually became a less and less important factor. In 1899 
its corporate name was shortened to "The Delaware & Hud- 
son Company" by a Legislative enactment which allowed the 
company to abandon its waterway whenever it should see fit, 
and shortly after the bed of the canal was sold to private 
parties and most of it abandoned. 



THE INDIANS: 

on 

NARRATIVES 

OP 

MASSACRES AND DEPREDATIONS 

ON THE FRONTIER, 

IN WAWASINK AND ITS VICINITY, 

DUKING 

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

I1ITEB8PER8ED WITH REFLECTIONS ON THE PKOVIDENCE OF GOD. 

WITH AN APPENDIX, 

CONTAWmO BRIEF NOTICES OF NATURAL CURIOSITIES AND OBJECTS OF 
INTEREST IN WAWASINK. 

BY A DESCENDANT OF THE HUGUENOTS. /ApYaVvaLrn GfatTti 



TO COMMEMORATE THE NOBLE DEEDS OF OUR ANCESTORS, 

AND INCULCATE PRINCIPLES OF PATRIOTISM AND PIETY. 



" Closely allied to love of country is gratitude to its benefactors." 
RONDOUT, N. Y. : 

FOR SALE AT THE PRINTING OFFICE OF BRADBURY & WELLS ; 

AND AT THE OFFICE OF THE CHRISTIAN INTELLIGENCER, 

No. 103 Fulton street, New York. 

1846. 



Entered aecordlDg to Act of Congress, the 7th of July, la the year 1846. 

BY JOHN A. GRAY, 

In the Clerk'a Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York. 



JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER, 

111 Nassau street, N. Y. 



PREFACE 



It Is a common remark, that whatever relates to the early history of our country 
possessee a peculiar interest. The writer of the following narratives, having often 
listened with intense interest to the thrilling events which occurred on the frontiers of 
Wawasink, in times "which tried men's souls,"— and, aa Paulding adds in his Life of 
Washington, "their bodies too."— and to the striking interpositions of Divine Providence, 
has thought that their publication would be interesting to the public— and especially to 
that portion who are descended from, or are connected with, the early settlers of 
Wawasink. But as the occurrences here were links in the great chain of events by 
which our national independence was achieved, we trust its perusal will be Interesting 
to all. 

It is hoped that the contemplation of those scenes through which our patriotic 
ancestors were called, in the providence of God, to pass, in order to secure the enjoy- 
ment of those precious rights and privileges which they esteemed of more value than 
life itself, will rekindle afresh the patriotic flame in the twsom of their sons, and 
nerve them to resist, with an unflinching arm, any attempt to prostrate or undermine 
our glorious national fabric, or any of our civil or religious rights and privileges, which 
cost them so much blood and treasure, and which it is our solemn duty to transmit 
unimpaired to posterity. 

It is an interesting thought, and one intimately associated with the early settle- 
ment and defence of our country, that the great and paramount aim of the great mass 



iv PREFACE. 

of Its early settlers was, to secure for themseKes and their descendants the Inestimable 
privilege of worshipping God according to the dictate of consciences enlightened by his 
word. This was especially the ease with the French Huguenots and the Dissenters, or 
Puritans, of England. It was this great object which nerved them to endure all the 
hardships and privations Incident to a settlement In an unbroken wiiaemess, and arising 
from savage barbarity and treachery. It is to our pious and Intelligent ancestors that 
we are indebted, under Heaven, for the establishment of those unparalleled civil and 
religious Institutions which we enjoy, and which distinguish us above every other nation 
under heaven. 

Some of the Huguenots who fled from France, before the revocation of the Edict of 
Nantz, (1685.) tarried some time In Holland, where they enjoyed that precious boon of 
liberty which they desired. But "the place was too straight for them" to think of 
making It their permanent abode. They obtained letters of Introduction and recommenda- 
tion from the Dutch In Holland, to their Dutch brethren who had already Immigrated 
to Kingston, Ulster county, with whom they became amalgamated; and by them the 
valleys of the Bondout, Walklll, and Plattekill, have been chiefly settled. 

The writer of the following narratives, being fully convinced of the truth of the 
maxim laid down by the great father of his country, in his Inaugural Address of 1789, 
"That there is an Indissoluble union in the economy and course of nature between virtue 
and happiness, between duty and advantage," has made It a point to notice the pious 
sentiments and practices of our devoted ancestors, and also the signal Interposition of 
Divine Providence, as brought to view in these narratives. Many striking events have 
occurred, in the history of our country, which teach us that Important truth, that "God 
Is In history," and which we think are sufficient to convince even the atheist, that 
there is a sovereign Dispo.ser of events, who presides over the destinies of men and 
nations. Witness, for example, the case of the immortal Washington, when exposed 
to seventeen fair shots of an Indian, whose rifle was not wont to miss its mark, and 
our hero escaped unhurt.* What can be more clear, to an unprejudiced mind, than that 
Washington was raised up, and protected by Omnipotence, for the express purpose of 

• Paulding informs us, in his Life of Washington, "that his clothes were completely 
perforated with bullet-holes, and that he preserved that suit as a memorial of his miracu- 
lous preservation." 



PREFACE. V 

dellTering our country from the galling yoke of a foreign despot, and establishing a 
government that should be a model for all the world? 

We might also allude to the wonderful escape of Colonel Morgan, In two Instances, 
by means of the sudden rising of a river, which averted his capture by General Corn- 
waails, while marching with five hundred prisoners from South Carolina to Virginia. 
This event had an important bearing upon the operations of the armies in the South, 
which soon resulted in the surrender of Cornwallls, and the close of the war. 

Although the following narratives do not present such extraordinary Instances of 
divine Interposition as the above, etlll the thoughtful reader will ttnd much to elicit his 
gratitude to that Almighty Being who has provided for us. In this western world, an 
asylum from the galling yoke of civil and religious despotism. 

As respects his materials for this little work, the author would say that he has 
been mostly Indebted to tradition. Something, however, has been obtained from those 
who were actors In those scenes, and much from those who were then In boyhood. 
Having lived for many years In the vicinity where most of the events occurred, and 
having often heard them related by the old people, and having had the spots pointed 
out where they transpired, the writer has enjoyed advantages In this respect over many 
others. In getting the incidents correct. It Is not expected, however, that a work of 
this kind should be perfect. Notices of errors, or any further Interesting details, con- 
nected with these narratives, will be thankfully received and acknowledged, and may 
be addressed to the publisher. It has been the great aim of the author to present a 
plain statement of facts, according to the best authenticated accounts which have fallen 
within his reach — to applaud and commend the conduct of those who acted well their 
part In the great drama through which they were called to pass— and to exhibit the 
cowards and Tories, In all their naked deformity, to the derision and contempt of the 
world, that others might be deterred from walking In their steps. 

The author can most heartily subscribe to the suggestions contained in an article 
published In the Christian Intelligencer of the 7th of September, 1844, extracted from 
the Christian Parlor Magazine, wherein the writer advocates the propriety and utility 
of having a history of our country, "that would reveal the beatings or the common heart 
in the cause of liberty— that would lead us Into the domestic circle," and inform us 
of what passed there, in those days of darkness, that tried men's and women's souls, as 
well as those great achievements which decided the fate of armies In a day. Such a 



VI PREFACE. 

history the author trusts he has been enabled to present of the lown of Wawaslnk; 
and If similar histories should be written of other towns, equally rich in revolutionary 
lore, materials would be furnished for such a work as Is recommended In the article 
alluded to above. The author feels that he owes an apology to the general reader for 
his minuteness in pointing out particular localities and family connexions. He has 
been induced to do so by the conviction, that the work would lose much . of its interest 
to the descendants of the first settlers of Wawaslnk, (for whom It Is particularly de- 
signed,) If this feature were omitted. 



CONTENTS 



NARRATIVE I. 

Osterhout and Anderson taken Prisoners near BInghampton— They kill the Indians and 
Conduct of Anderson 15 



NARRATIVE II. 

Murder of Shurker and Miller— Baker taken Prisoner— Three Barns and one House Burnt- 
Pursuit by Capt. Kortright— Massacre of Lieut. John Gralms, at Gralmsvllle— Burial 
of the Dead 20 

NARRATIVE III. 

Narrow Escape of Three School-children from the Indians 25 



NARRATIVE IV. 

Massacre at FantineklU— Widow of Isaac Bevler and two Sons killed— Magdalene taken 
Prisoner and Released— Michael Socks' whole family killed— Narrow Escape of Jesse 
Bevler and famUy— Wonderful Sagacity of a Dog— Bold and Heroic Conduct of Lewis 
Bevler and Conradt Bevler— Arrival of Col. Cortland's Regiment— Flight of the 
Women and Children to the Mountain— Laudable Conduct of Capt. Kortright 26 

NARRATIVE V. 

Murder of John and Elsie Mack, by the Indians, in the Shawangunk Mountain— Narrow 
Escape of John Mans and Col. Janseo 38 



CONTENT.^. 



NAEBATIVE VI. 



Burning of Wawaaink— Murder of Kettle— Noble Conduct of Captains Kortrlght, Harden- 
bergh and Plerson— Capture of Hlne and Bouck— Their Sufferings and Escape— End 
of the War 42 

Historical Notes- 
Treatment of Tories after the War by the Whigs 63 

Treatment of the Tory VauTleet, of Newtown 65 

Contest between the Tories and Bepublicaos, at the first Training after the War.. 65 

Appendix— 

Topatcoke 67 

Ice Cave 67 

The Honk VaUs 68 

The Old Church of Wawasink 69 

The Old Cannon 73 

Taxation of America 75 



INTRODUCTION 



When this country was discovered by Europeans, it was found to be 
inhabited by a brave and warlike people. Their immense numbers, and 
the extent of their settlements, (which were found to be co-extensive with 
the bounds of the continent,) evince that they must either have immi- 
grated to this country in considerable numbers, or they must have found 
their way to this continent at an early period, and spread by natural 
increase. The latter would appear most probable. Their universal ac- 
knowledgement of a "Great Spirit," or Supreme Being, and their com- 
parative exemption from the degrading and abominable sin of idol wor- 
ship, would lead us to infer that they derived their origin from a people 
that had a knowledge of the true Jehovah — perhaps from the patriarchs, 
as early as the time of Jacob. We read in Genesis, 48th chapter, that Jacob, 
after blessing the sons of Joseph, prophesied that the "seed of Ephraim 
should become a multitude of nations." Perhaps this prediction has been 
fulfilled in the American Indians, who are a multitude of distinct tribes, 
or "nations," having peculiarities common to all; which would lead us 
to suppose that they all have one common origin. As respects the man- 
ner of their getting across the ocean, the most credible supposition, in 
the opinion of the writer, is, that they have crossed from Asia at 



X INTRODUCTION. 

Behring's Straits, which are said to be but forty miles wide, and 
might be crossed with canoes; and besides that, it is sometimes frozen 
over. They may also have crossed part of the way on the ice, and part 
of the way in a canoe. But all attempts to arrive at certainty in this 
matter, have ever proved futile, and probably will, to the end of time. 

It does not appear that the whites purchased the land of the In- 
dians west of the Shawangunk, as they did the Old Paltz patent. This 
however, is not certain. Their settlements were scattered along the 
streams and brooks, where they cultivated small patches of corn and 
some other vegetables, on soil the easiest to be subdued; having, until 
the whites came amongst them, no axes but those of stone, and no arms 
but bows and arrows, pointed with flint, which are still found occasionally 
by the ploughman. Their principal game was deer, which abounded in 
the boundless forests about them. 

As the pale-faces encroached upon them, they removed farther into 
the wilderness; but they carried on a traffic in furs, on their part, with 
the whites, in exchange for blankets, trinkets, ammunition, and intox- 
icating drinks, and were on amicable terms until the French war, when, 
it appears, that one family was massacred at the county line, seven 
miles south of Naponoch. After that, it does not appear that any depre- 
dations were committed on this frontier until the commencement of the 
Revolution. At that time the British agents, taking advantage of their 
fondness of war, and of their too just reason to complain of the en- 
croachments of the whites, and also of their cupidity, (by offering them 
a guinea for every white scalp they obtained,) induced them to take part 
with them in an attempt to subdue the sons of liberty. Had it not been 
for this disgraceful act of the British, of forming a contract with savage 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

tribes who could not be governed by the rules of civilized warfare, the 
inhabitants of this frontier might have reposed in security. But as it 
was, their lives were in constant jeopardy. At night they assembled in 
stockade forts, or several families would assemble in a common dwelling- 
house, all of which, however, had their windows blockaded, and double 
doors, sufficient to stop a bullet. Their arms, also, must always be at 
hand. When they went to church, they carried their armor with them. 
When they were ploughing in the field it was necessary to have a senti- 
nel. Some removed their families across the mountain, into the towns 
of Shawangunk and Paltz, for safety. The State usually afforded some 
troops fcr the protection of the frontier; but they were often inadequate 
to the exigencies of the times, and the inhabitants had to depend mainly 
on their own resources for security and defence. In consequence of this 
state of things, the soil was but partially cultivated; whilst the price of 
all imported articles raised, and the taxes of the people were increased 
enormously; and to this may be added the depreciation of the conti- 
nental money. Such were the burdens and privations in the Revolution. 
But all this was borne with patience, on account of the love they bore 
to the goddess of Liberty. 

Although the Tories were not so numerous here, as in many other 
parts, still there were enough to apprise the Indians when there was a 
favorable opportunity of striking a blow on the whites, when there were 
but few troops on the line, &c. The most bitter animosity, (as the 
reader will readily apprehend,) existed between them and the Whigs; 
and when they fell into the power of the latter, even after the close of 
the war, they were treated with every insult, which justly incurred en- 
mity could devise, as will appear in the sequel of this work. 



XU INTRODUCTION. 

It was exceedingly difficult to convict them of Toryism, unless taken 
in the act of open hostility. They would live on the frontier, be much 
out in the woods, and communicate secretly with the Indians, and at the 
same time profess allegiance to the whites. The strongest evidence 
against them, in most cases, was that their property was not destroyed. 
When they went out with the Indians, they painted their faces, to avoid 
detection; but they could not paint their eyes, by which they were some- 
times distinguished. In point of barbarity, they were even worse than 
the Indians, as will appear from the following circumstance, which oc- 
curred along the Mohawk River, and was related afterwards by one of 
those demons in human form, whilst under the influence of strong drink. 

The Indians and Tories gained access to a dwelling, and they found 
an infant laying in a cradle. As the Indian approached the child with his 
tomahawk, it smiled, and he shrunk back from the deed. Although he 
had, doubtless, often plunged the fatal instrument of death into the 
bosom of hardier foes, without compunction, the stout heart of the 
savage warrior gave way before the penetrating smile of infant inno- 
cence: the infernal Tory then advanced, and executed the fatal deed. 

The Indian settlements being far remote from the frontier, there was 
not much danger from them in the winter season; but as soon as the 
strengthened rays of the vernal sun had dissolved the snows on the sides 
of the western hills, they had to be on their guard. For their better secur- 
ity, it was customary to have out spies, or rangers, between the frontier 
and the settlements of the Indians, to watch the movements of the 
enemy, and give notice of their approach; but in consequence of the 
subtle character of the enemy, but little benefit was derived from this 
measure. 



INTRODUCTION. XIH 

The Indians have left an everlasting remembrance of themselves in 
the names which they have given to places in this town; such as Wawa- 
sink, Lackawack, Honkhill, Naponoch, Sockanisank,* Tapatcoke,t Poy- 
enhook, &c. 

Although our fathers were severely tried by privations and hard- 
ships, they were not cast down. A kind providence gave them strength 
according to their day; and their common afflictions only served to 
strengthen the bond of affection between them. The following anecdotes 
will serve to show the good spirits of the people, and also their readi- 
ness for mutual defence. 

Two men were ploughing on a farm, now owned by Mr. Simpson, 
one mile south of Naponoch — a third man was stationed as a sentinel, 
to watch the Indians. He became weary of watching, and strolled off 
along the creek, amongst some trees; the ploughmen determined to put 
a trick upon him, and at the same time punish him for his indolence. 
They seized their guns, and fired over his head in the bushes. Not 
doubting that a host of Indians were on hand, he laid his course for the 
Naponoch, and the ploughmen in full pursuit. "The race went hot" for 
about a mile, when he came to the Naponoch Creek, into which he 
bounded like a deer closely pursued by hounds. Here he found some 
soldiers bathing; but before he could communicate the matter, the 
ploughmen came up and explained the riddle. 

On another occasion, some neighbors and soldiers were assembled 
at Capt. Andrew Bevier's, at Naponoch, in the evening, and they de- 
termined to put a trick upon Johannis Bevier, who lived where the Fe- 

• The name of a spring In the Shawangunk mountain, 
t The name of a lot of low-land near Naponoch. 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

male Seminary now stands; so they mounted the old cannon on some 
kmd of a carriage, loaded it, and drew it slily immediately in front of 
Bevier's house, in the street. One of the company went into the house, 
to prevent him from injuring them, and to see how he would act. He 
was sitting by the fire, rather in a sleepy mood. The moment the can- 
non was fired, he sprang up and seized his gun, which lay over his head 
against the beam, and sprang to the window, ready to pour the leaden 
death into his supposed adversaries, when his hand was stayed by the man 
who had been sent in for that purpose. 

NOTE.— A man by the name of Conradt Vernooy was shot by the Indians, in the 
French war, as he was riding aiong the road near the house of John G. Hardenbergh, 
Esq. He rode to the Esquire's. On loosening his clothes, the blood gushed out, and 
he died suddenly. He was an ancestor of Simon Vernooy, now living in the town of 
Sbawangunk, Ulster county. 



THE INDIANS. 



NARRATIVE I. 



Osterbout and Anderson taken Prisoners, near Bingbampton— They Kill the Indians and 
Escape — Strange Conduct of Anderson. 



It is the unanimous testimony of tradition, that the following events 
occurred a little before, or about the commencement of the American 
Revolution — the precise date is not known. 

There was a widow lady living at Lackawack, about four miles from 
Naponoch, who had lost her second husband. Her first husband's name 
was Osterhout, and she had a son by the name of Jacob Osterhout. 
She kept a public house at that place; and it appears that either Oster- 
hout or Anderson had, on a previous occasion, offended the Indians, by 
telling her not to let them have any more liquor. The Indians were 
determined on revenge; and a favorable opportunity occurring when 
George Anderson and Jacob Osterhout were both at this tavern in th'J 
night, three Indians entered it, took them both prisoners, and carried 
them off towards Binghampton, in Broome county. It appears that 
whilst they were securing the prisoners, the woman fled, with no other 
clothing about her than her night clothes. She was out all night in the 



16 INDIAN NAERATIVES. 

woods, and in a shower of rain. The next day she came to Wawasink, 
and gave the alarm. Whether the Indians were pursued or not, the 
writer has not been able to ascertain — the probability is, that they were. 
The prisoners were taken to within thirteen miles of the place of 
destination, where they effected their escape. George Anderson could 
understand the Indian dialect, and on their last day's march he gathered 
from the conversation of the Indians that it was their design to scalp 
Osterhout, he being a weakly man, and not able to travel fast. They 
said his scalp would fetch more than he would be worth alive. Ander- 
son made this known to his companion in tribulation, and endeavored to 
inspire him with a determination to make a desperate effort to escape. 
At night, in the providence of God, an opportunity offered. The In- 
dians, as their custom was, after taking supper and securing the pris- 
oners, retired to rest by the side of a large fire provided for the purpose. 
Before the Indians retired, a knife had been used either by them in se- 
curing the prisoners, or by the prisoners, in eating. Anderson succeeded 
in covering it slightly in the leaves with his feet, without being discov- 
ered by the Indians. They looked for it before retiring to rest, but not 
finding it readily, gave up the search. Tired by the avocations of the 
day, they soon fell into a deep sleep; but sleep was too "coy a dame to 
be wooed by the prisoners that night." With the assistance of the glim- 
mering embers, Anderson found the knife, with which he cut loose the 
fetters of his fellow prisoner, who then cut him loose. The next thing 
was to despatch the Indians, two of whom lay on one side of the fire, 
and one on the other. The understanding was that Osterhout should 
kill the one, and Anderson the other two. Each took the 
hatchet to give the fatal blow. Anderson commenced; but in 



OSTERHOUT AND ANDERSON. 17 

his haste, he struck the first Indian rather slightly, when he rose up 
and fell into the fire; the next blow finished the other. Osterhout not 
doing his part, he crossed over to the other side of the fire, and killed 
the third Indian. In the mean time Osterhout had pulled the first In- 
dian out of the fire, instead of helping to destroy them. This conduct 
of Osterhout appears surpassing strange, and can only be accounted for 
on the ground that he, being a weakly, timid man, was completely dis- 
concerted and unnerved, and for the time being, did not know what he 
was doing. There were two squaws with the Indians, who woke up, and 
made the forest resound with their frantic yells. One tradition of this 
event says that the agreement between Osterhout and Anderson was, 
that the former was to kill the squaws, and the latter the Indians. Could 
this have been efifected their subsequent danger of arrest by other In- 
dians would not have been half so great. But as it turned out they were 
well aware that the squaws would inform the nearest Indians of what 
had occurred; and if they should be so unfortunate as to fall into their 
hands, after having killed three of their number, the most awful torture 
that savage barbarity could invent, embittered by revenge, (the darling 
passion of the Indian,) would be their inevitable doom. Nerved by this 
reflection, as well as encouraged by what they had already, with the 
blessing of Heaven, been enabled to accomplish, by which they were re- 
lieved from immediate danger, they made every preparation in their 
power for their return, taking from the slaughtered Indians all the food 
which they had with them,, and such other articles as might be useful 
to them in their journey, which lay most of the way through an un- 
broken wilderness, frequently traversed by parties of hostile Indians. 
Never was the influence of that immortal passion which a benignant 



18 INDIAN NAREATIVES. 

Creator has implanted in the breast of every human being, more neces- 
sary than on this occasion. Well has the poet said: — 

"Hope, of all passions, most befriends us here; 
Passions of prouder name befriend us less; 
Joy has her fears, and Transport has her death; 
Hope, like a cordial. Innocent, though strong, 
Man'B heart at cmce Inspirits and serenes." 

From the part Osterhout had acted, and from the fact that he was 
naturally a timid, weakly man, Anderson was well aware that their es- 
cape, if effected, would depend mostly on his own vigilance and perse- 
verance. His speed was much retarded by the slow movements of his 
companion, and self-preservation doubtless dictated to him to leave him 
behind — but this, every feeling of humanity and affection, strengthened 
by their being companions in suffering, forbade. Besides this, how could 
he ever approach the presence of that tender and heart-broken mother, 
yearning over the fate of her unfortunate son! Their scanty supply of 
provisions was soon exhausted, and torturing hunger, the usual scourge 
and accompaniment on such occasions, began to pierce their very vitals. 
Although they had arms and ammunition,, they dared not fire at any 
game, for fear of being heard by Indians. In the course of their march, 
they fell in with a horse, which they killed with a spear, and cut the 
flesh out of the thighs to eat. They were obliged to avoid the usual 
route, and often to secrete themselves in the day time and travel at 
night, in order to avoid detection, and on one occasion Anderson had to 
swim a small river with Osterhout on his back. 

After suffering more than tongue can tell, or pen describe, they 
arrived at a house on Honkhill, where Chester L. Dudley now lives. 



OSTEEHOUT AND ANDERSON. 19 

then owned by a man named Timmerman.* This place was, or became 
soon after, the site of a stockade fort, and was occupied by a garrison, 
as will appear in the next narrative. 

Osterhout and Anderson were so nearly exhausted with hunger that 
it would have been death to them both, to have eaten a full meal. An- 
derson had still self-government enough to manage his own case. He 
took a crust of bread and eat it, and kept walking across the floor. 
Osterhout was fed like a child. His slender constitution survived the 
shock but a short time, and he was numbered with his fathers. 

The conduct of George Anderson after this time became surpassing 
strange,, and we can no longer contemplate him as the brave and un- 
daunted hero. It was no doubt the result of physical disease, caused by 
his extraordinary sufferings. He appeared to be constantly in fear, and 
apprehensive of some imminent danger. He left Wawasink and went 
across the Shawangunk Mountain, and took up his abode in a cave, 
from which he would sally out in the night and take things that were 
not his own, to satisfy his wants. He became quite a pest to the people, 
but they forbore to arrest or punish him, from the consideration of what 
he had suffered, and that it was supposed he was not in his right mind. 

* This TlinmermaD was such a notorlons old miaer, and bad such a faculty for arous- 
ing the sympathies, that a brief notice of him. It Is believed, will be Interesting to the 
reader. He owned a house and farm, and had one or more boys to assist him In work- 
ing It; but In preference to that, he went begging all around the country, and In large 
towns and cities. He was a very pitiful looking man, and could invent a most plaintive 
story: he also possessed the uncommon faculty of crying whenever It would assist him 
in arousing the sympathies of the people and accompQlshlng his ends. A more des- 
picable character can scarcely be imagined to exist in human form, than the above. He 
carried the leg of an old stocking for his money-purse. When his old chimney was torn 
down, a few years since, by John Christie, four or five hard dollars were found between 
the atones. 



20 IKPIAN NARRATIVES. 

The last that the writer has been able to learn of him, he was journey- 
ing towards the West. It has been intimated that the ground of his 
mental distress was a guilty conscience, for having killed the Indians; 
but it appears to the writer that he was justifiable, both in the sight of 
God and man; and that his fears were the result of mental derangement. 



NARRATIVE II. 

Murder of Shurker and Miller— Baker taken Prisoner— Three Barns and one House Burnt 
—Pursuit by Capt. Kortrlte— Massacre of Lieut. John Gralms, at GralmsvlUe— Burial 
of the Dead. 

The events of this narrative took place next in the order of time to 
the preceding one, but the precise date the writer has not been able to 
ascertain. It must have been in the early part of the war; probably in 
^^^ or '78. There were three families living at that time in the vicinity 
of Pinebush, in the town of Rochester, where Mr. Churchill now lives, 
by the name of Shurker, Miller and Baker. It appears that Shurker was 
suspected of being a Tory; and that a short time previous to the occur- 
rence of the following events, a Whig neighbor had been at his house, 
and intimated as much to him, personally; and that he then made the 
strongest attestations of fidelity to the cause of liberty; and that this was 
overheard by some Tories, and communicated to the Indians. Living 
thus on the outposts, and in imminent danger from both Indians and 
Tories, those people had strong temptations to keep the good will of the 



SHURKER AND MILLER. 21 

enemy, in order to save their lives and property, though at heart they 
were Whigs. But if they had had the disinterested patriotism of a Wash- 
ington, who reproached his steward for furnishing supplies to the Brit- 
ish when their fleet lay near his premises, (although by that means he 
saved his buildings from the devouring element,) they would never have 
tampered with the enemy in that way. At dawn of day the alarm of 
"Indians," was heard at the military posts at Pinebush. The report of 
firearms was heard, and the flames were seen through the twilight, as- 
cending from burning buildings, in awful grandeur, to the heavens, tell- 
ing, in unequivocal terms, that the destroyers were there. Capt. Benja- 
min Kortrite, father of Cornelius Kortrite, now living at Pinebush, on 
the old homestead — a man who knew not what fear was, and who was 
always ready at the call of his country — marshalled his patriotic band, 
with his usual agility, and marched to the scene of action. When they 
came in sight, they saw the enemy retiring from the house, which was on 
fire. They halted a moment, extinguishing the fire, and saved this house; 
but another house and three barns were consumed. Here they found 
Shurker, with his brains dashed out. Whilst they were here, the enemy 
fired a volley on the hill near by. After putting out the fire, they pur- 
sued the enemy. When they came on the hill, they found Miller, liter- 
ally perforated with bullet-holes. It is remarkable that the women and 
children were not injured on this occasion; which may be accounted for 
by the consideration, that a large proportion of the enemies were Tories; 
that they may have had some ties of relationship, or affinity, which re- 
strained them, in this case, from their usual barbarity. 

Capt. Kortrite pursued them until he came to the Vernooy Creek, 
when, his provisions being exhausted, he returned home to Pinebush. 



22 INDIAN NARRATIVES 

On their return, they buried the unfortunate Shurker and Miller, who 
fell martyrs to the cause of liberty. 

The fate of Baker is wrapt in impenetrable mystery. Nothing has 
ever been seen or heard of him. He was the stoutest man of the 
three. It is not improbable that he was reserved by the Indians 
as the object on which to wreak their vengeance for the three 
red men killed by Anderson, as mentioned in the preceding 
narrative. There is one consoling reflection connected with this, 
and similar tragedies recorded in this little work, and that is— that what- 
ever pains they may have inflicted on the bodies of their victims, they 
could not kill the immortal soul; and that if they have had an interest in 
the great Redeemer of mankind, they will be raised to immortality and 
glory at the last great day, and be again united in everlasting bonds of 
love and affection with those they loved below. 

At the time of this massacre, there was a body of two of three hun- 
dred troops laying at the Fort on Honkhill, where C. L. Dudley now 
lives. On learning the facts above stated, it was resolved by the officer 
in command, to fit out an expedition to waylay the Indians on their re- 
turn, at the Chestnut Woods, (now called Graimsville,) in Sullivan 
county, about thirteen miles from Naponoch. The officer called out for 
volunteers, when Lieut. John Graims, or Grahams, stepped out. He was 
asked how many men he would have; to which he replied, that he would 
take no more than "his honor" gave him, which was eighteen privates, 
with one sergeant and corporal. This, it appears, was called a Lieuten- 
ant's guard. He was offered more men, but refused to take them. In 
this he exhibited more valor, than prudence or skill in fighting Indians, 
as the event will show. 



kortrite's expedition. 23 

He marched on immediately and reached Graimsville in advance of 
the enemy. He selected his position at the foot of a steep hill. They 
were all raw recruits from the old towns on the east side of the Shaw- 
angunk, and knew nothing about Indian warfare — fit subjects to give 
the Indians sport. Abraham Vancampen, the only good marksman 
amongst them, Graims had imprudently sent a hunting, to get them some 
fresh meat. Before he returned, the Indians came. They had discov- 
ered the plot of the whites; and the skill and ingenuity manifested in 
their attack, is seldom surpassed in the annaPs of warfare,, savage or 
civilized. One Indian only was sent forward on the regular path in front 
of Graims' garrison. All the rest had approached undiscovered from 
the opposite side of the hill, and lay ready with their fingers on the 
triggers of their guns to send the leaden death into the bosoms of their 
unsuspecting foes. Mr. Graims had just been very deliberately taking a 
drink from a crystal rivulet, which flowed in gentle murmurs near his 
camp, harmonizing with the calm and quiet frame of his mind, and as he 
rose from drinking, he saw an Indian in the path, and directed his men 
td fire. A volley was discharged at him without effect. As my in- 
formant says, "he jumped up sound." Now was the time for the Indians 
on the opposite side to perform their part in the game. The attention 
of the whites was all directed to the one Indian, and their guns dis- 
charged. At their first fire Graims fell, and most of his men. For the 
remnant to protract the contest, under such circumstances, would have 
been the height of folly. Two men, besides Vancampen, made their 
escape to the fort, to tell the horrid tale. Never was a flock of partridges 
more effectually and skilfully taken in a fowler's net, than were the in- 



24 INDIAN NARRATIVES. 

experienced and unfortunate Lieut. John Graims and his unsuspecting 
guard. 

The greatest care should ever be exercised in selecting officers to 
conduct an expedition against Indians, and none should ever be en- 
trusted with that service who are not qualified by nature and a thorough 
knowledge of Indian traits, and their peculiar modes of warfare. Every 
attempt that was made in this quarter to surprise or intercept the In- 
dians, failed of success. When the Indians were strong enough, they 
would attack and defeat the whites. If too weak, they would evade them, 
or retreat; and one might as well attempt to stem the foaming current 
of Niagara at the summit of the falls, as to think of overtaking them in 
the woods. 

As soon as the necessary preparations could be made, a force of 
three hundred men went up to Graimsville to bury the dead. They found 
them all scalped, and divested of every article that could be put to any 
use; but their bodies were not mangled, as was frequently the case. 
They were buried in several separate trenches in the place where they 
fell. The troops had considerable sport with one of the men who es- 
caped. In his haste, in jumping across a brook, his bayonet had struck 
into the ground, and he had left his gun, not taking time to pull it out. 
It was found to be loaded and all the cartridges were in his cartridge- 
box, so it was evident that he had not once fired his gun. It may be 
proper here to observe that the place where Graims fell, is called Graims- 
ville, after his name, and serves to commemorate that event. It was 
called the "Chestnut Woods" before. 



NARRATIVE III. 

Narrow Escape of Three School-children from the Indiana. 

The following incident also occurred, it is believed, in the early part 
of the American Revolution, and is treasured up in the minds of the 
descendants of the subjects of this happy escape from savage barbarity, 
as a precious reminiscence of the trials and dangers through which our 
fathers had to pass, and of the goodness of that God whose direction 
and blessing they did not fail to implore, in those "times of need." 

Three children started from Jacob Bevier's, who lived in Naponoch, 
in the lane where Job Crum now lives, in the old stone house, to go to 
school at Wawasink, near where Jacob S. Vanwagnen now lives. One of 
those children was Jacob Beviers son, and father of Andries Bevier of 
Tuthilltown, lately deceased. His name was Abram, and from his being 
a bright and shrewd child, he had received the nickname of Lawyer-um, 
by which he was generally known amongst the old Dutch people The 
other two, it is believed, were his sisters. In those times there was a 
footpath which left the road a little east of where Abm. G. Bevier now 
lives, and struck the road again about half a mile further east. Soon 
after leaving this path Lawyer-um discovered two or three Indians 
sitting by the wayside, either engaged in eating a piece, or mending 
their moccasins. He immediately sung out "Indians," but having been 
in the habit of making false alarms, in order to frighten his schoolmates. 
was not heeded at first; but they soon perceived by his countenace. 



26 INDIAN NAEBATIVES. 

which spoke a language not to be misunderstood, that it was now in ear- 
nest. They dropped their dinner baskets and ran for life. A little knoll 
intervening between them and the Indians, they could not keep sight of 
them. The children took the footpath, and were happy in reaching home 
in safety. The men then went after the Indians. They saw by their 
tracks in the road where the footpath intersected it, that they had been 
at a loss to ascertain which the children had taken, and whilst they dal- 
lied the children got beyond their reach, and were happily restored to 
the bosom of their parents and friends. 



NARRATIVE IV. 

Massacre at FantlneklH— Widow Isaac Bevier and two sons Killed— Magdalene taken 
Prisoner and Released— Michael Socks' whole family Killed— Narrow Escape of Jesse 
Bevier and Family— Wonderful Sagacity of a Dog— Bold and Heroic Conduct of Louis 
Bevier and Conradt Bevier- Arrival of Col. Cortland's Regiment— Flight of the 
Women and Children to the Mountain— Laudable Conduct of Capt. Kortrtte. 

The following narrative is full of interesting incidents. It occurred 
in the midst of a settlement of the descendants of the French Hugue- 
nots, and the distinguishing traits of that people are brought to view in 
this narrative. They were bold, persevering and resolute — were firm be- 
lievers in the doctrine of a particular providence, which they did not 
forget to invoke in every time of need. The three families mentioned 
above lived at the Fantinekill, near each other; about three quarters of a 



MURDER OF THE BEVIER FAMILY. 27 

mile northeast of Ellenville. It appears that the attack was simultaneous 
on those three families; in fact, they lived so near each other that the 
one could not be assaulted without alarming the other two. As usual, 
the assault was made just at the dawn of day. It would appear to be 
characteristic of the Indians, when they have the opportunity, to com- 
mence their assaults at that time. It was the case at the burning of 
Wawasink, in 1781. The crew of the ship "Tonquin," belonging to John 
Jacob Astor, were destroyed at the break of day by the Indians on the 
north west coast, in 1810. And the attack upon Gen. Harrison at the 
Tippicanoe River was made a little before day. One exception occurs to 
the mind of the writer, which is the slaughter of the Virginians in 1824.* 
under the command of the successor of Powhaten, this commenced 
precisely at 12 o'clock, M. — There was a young negro, by the name of 
Robert, living at the widow Isaac Bevier's. He heard an unusual tramp- 
ing around the house, early in the morning, like that of horses. He got 
up and listened, and soon found out that it was Indians. He opened the 
door, and taking a little start, jumped out and ran. As he was going, he 
received a wound from a tomahawk m his head, and a ball was fired 
through the elbow of his roundabout, but did not hurt him. The Indians 
sung out, in their native tongue — "Run, you black! run, you black!" It 
does not appear that he was pursued by them. He made his escape over 
the low-land to Naponoch; but tarried a while in the field, at a stack, in 
order to stop the blood which was flowing profusely from his wound. 
Whether the Indians met with much resistance or not at this place, does 
not appear; but we know that the widow and both her sons were killed. 
The house was set on fire, and the women went into the cellar. The 
* Correct date probaWy 1624. 



28 INDIAN NABBATIVES. 

daughter Magdalene took the Dutch family Bible with her. When the 
flames approached them there, they chose rather to deliver themselves up 
to the savages than to endure a horrible death by fire — and then, too, 
they did not know but that God, who can turn the hearts of all men, 
"even as the rivers of water are turned," would interpose in their be- 
half. The event proved that "the one must be taken, and the other left." 
They made their way through the cellar-window — the mother in ad- 
vance. The daughter threw her apron over her head, so as not to see 
her mother killed! What tongue can describe the feelings of that mother 
and daughter at that moment! It is in vain for me to attempt to de 
scribe them. Language fails — words are inadequate to express them — 
and I must leave it to the reflections of the reader. The Indians were 
ready to receive their unfortunate and unoffending victims. The mother 
instantly became a prey to the ruthless tomahawk, whilst the daughter 
was retained as a prisoner. It is said that a young Indian manifested a 
strong attachment to her, and interposed in her behalf, but this is not 
certain. Some of the old people say that she was saved on account of 
her not being altogether sane; which was the case. The Bible was 
wrested from her hands and stamped in the mud. When the Indians 
left the place they took her a short distance into the woods, and then 
sent her back with a war-club, and a ktter written by the Tories to Capt. 
Andries Bevier, at Naponoch. The club was stained with fresh blood 
and hair. It was long in the family of the Beviers, but is now lost. 

In the letter they invited the old Captain to dine with them the next 
day at Lackawack. There was an allusion in it to the club — that so they 
meant to serve him. On her return she recovered that invaluable treas- 
ure which she had preserved from the flames — some of the leaves were 



MURDER OF THE SOCKS FAMILY. 29 

soiled by the mud, but not materially. It is still preserved as a precious 
relic in the family of her connections. 

Whether the two boys perished in the flames, or were tomahawked, 
the writer has not been able to learn. This widow Bevier had a daughter 
by the name of Catharine. She had been lately married to Abm. Jansen, 
whose father lived about four miles southwest of Fantinekill, and was 
strongly suspected of being a Tory, and of assisting and communicating 
with the Indians. The following are some of the circumstances on 
which this suspicion rested, i. His premises, although on the outposts, 
and unguarded, were not molested. 2. The moccason tracks of the In- 
dians were seen about his premises. 3. His daughter, who was at a 
neighbor's house, was importuned to return home the night before Fan- 
tinekill was burnt. 4. It was so managed that his daughter-in-law was 
at that time on a visit to Jacob Bevier's, at Naponoch. By the death of 
his daughter in-law's family, his son fell heir to the estate at Fantine- 
j^jjj * * * * j{ j^g ^^g guilty of participation in so foul a plot, he 
has had to account for it to Him who "judgeth righteous judgment," 
and who will bring every secret thing into judgment, whether it be good 
or evil. May this reflection warn us all to "beware of covetousness; for 
a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he pos- 
sesses." 

The family of Michael Socks were all killed. As none survived to 
tell the awful tale, no particulars can be given here. There were a father, 
a mother, and two sons who were young men; and it is believed that 
there were two other members in the family.* One young man, either 

• since writing the above, I have learned from an unquestionable source that there 
were two children In this family; so the whole number lost was eleven. 



30 INDIAN NARRATIVES. 

a Socks or a Bevier, had run some distance from the house into a piece 
of plowed ground, where it appears that a desperate contest had taken 
place between him and an Indian. A large patch of ground was trodden 
down; and the scalped and mangled corpse of the young man lay upon 
it — he had several wounds from a tomahawk in his arms. A few days 
before this there had been a training at Naponoch, and one of those boys 
boasted that he was not afraid of the Indians. We may learn from this 
how vain it is to put confidence in an arm of flesh, instead of the "mighty 
God of Jacob." 

At the house of Jesse Bevier there were some "mighty men of 
valor," and the enemy accordingly met a warm reception. The first 
salute which the old man received was, the blocks in the window were 
stove in, and two or three balls were fired just above his head, as he lay 
in the bed. He sprang from the bed and seized his axe, with which he 
prevented them from entering the window, at the same time calling to 
his sons David and John, who were soon in readiness, and a desperate 
action ensued. Those Beviers were all famous marksmen, and extraordi- 
narily fond of hunting, especially David, who had some choice powder 
for that purpose, which his mother brought forward in the course of the 
action. He declined to use it; thinking that common powder was good 
enough to shoot Indians with. * * * They had their powder loose in 
basins on a table, for the sake of convenience, and measured their 
charges only in their hands. It appears that the women assisted in load- 
ing — it being common to have a double stock of arms. But the enemy 
fired the old log house at a point where the little band of Huguenot 
heroes could not bring their guns to bear. Their situation now became 
alarming in the exterme. Every drop of liquid in the house was applied 



WONDERFUL SAGACITY OF A DOG. 31 

to retard the progress of the flames, by the women. They took milk, 
and even swill, in their mouths, and spirted it through the cracks of the 
logs, hoping in this way to protract their existence until relief might 
come from Naponoch. At this awful crisis, when death in its most 
awful form was staring them full in the face, that pious mother, know- 
ing that "with God all things are possible," and that man's extremity is 
his opportunity, proposed that they should suspend hostilities, and unite 
in petitions to the throne of grace for mercy. David replied that "she 
must pray, and they would continue to fight." — Although his name was 
"David," and he was "the son of Jesse," he evidently possessed more of 
the spirit of "Nimrod" than of Israel's king. But perhaps he thought 
of the words of Solomon, "that there is a time for every work and pur- 
pose under the sun;" and that now was the time for "his hands to war 
and his fingers to fight." But that mother prayed, and the sequel will 
show its efficacy, in connection with the verification of the promises of 
God to those who call on him in sincerity and truth. Wherever this nar- 
rative is read, "there will this also which this woman did, be" read, "for 
a memorial of her," and for encouragement to those who shall come 
after, to follow her example. 

We frequently meet with accounts in the public prints of the sagacity 
of dogs — some indeed that are very remarkable — but it is believed that 
the following, taking all the circumstances into consideration, is without 
a parallel in the history of that animal. In the course of the morning, 
after the battle commenced at Fantinekill, Jesse Bevier's dog, without 
any sign or motion from his master, or having been trained to any thing 
of the kind, came to Naponoch, a distance of two miles, to the house of 
Lewis Bevier, his master's brother. He came to him and jumped up 



32 INDIAN NARRATIVES. 

against his breast, and looked at him, and then ran to the gate which 
led to his master's, looking back to see if he was coming; — this he did 
several times. Lewis could distinctly hear the firing at Fantinekill, and 
could easily guess what was going on, but fear had hitherto deterred 
him from going; but now he resolved to go, if he should go alone. He 
took his arms and hastened to his neighbor's, Johannis Bevier's, who 
lived where the Female Seminary now stands, and told him that his 
brother's dog had come to call him, and he would go to his relief; that 
"it was too much for flesh and blood to stand;" and wanted him to go 
with him; but he thought it not prudent to go, as the Indians were ex- 
pected there every minute, and it was almost certain death for them to 
go alone. But there was standing by, a youth, by the name of Conradt, 
son of Johannis, whose patriotism and courage, kindled into a lively 
flame by the pathetic address of his friend, rose superior to all fear, and 
he determined to go with him. In addition to his courage and martial 
skill, this youth was extremely fleet on foot, like Asahel of old, "he was 
light of foot as a wild roe." He boasted that no Indian could outrun 
him. Those two set out over the low-lands for Fantinekill. When they 
came near, the Indian sentry on the hill fired an alarm. The Indians and 
Tories, not knowing how large a company was coming, immediately 
withdrew from the house, and they rushed in. The flames at this mo- 
ment had extended, in spite of all their exertions, to the curtains of the 
bed. The door was now thrown open, and the women rushed down the 
hill to the spring, for water to extinguish the flames, whilst the men 
stood at the door with their arms in their hands to protect them. 

Amongst the women who went to the spring was Jesse's daughter 
Catharine, mother of Mrs. Daniel Hoornbeek, now living at Wawasink. 



COL. Cortland's regiment. 33 

While at the spring she heard the groans of the dying in the swamp> 
ground near by. Tories were also recognized, by their striped panta- 
loons, and also by the streaks which the sweat made in their painted 
faces. The fire was happily extinguished, and this family saved from an 
awful catastrophe. Had not assistance arrived from Naponoch, precisely 
when it did, we cannot see how they could have escaped; and the writer 
thinks that he cannot justly incur the charge of fanaticism, in ascribing 
this wonderful deliverance to the direct interposition of divine provi- 
dence, in their behalf, in answer to prayer. That God who commanded 
the ravens to feed the prophet Elijah at the brook Cherith, in a time of 
persecution and famine, and who caused the beasts to go into Noah's 
ark — the clean beasts by sevens, and the unclean by twos — could, and 
doubtless did, direct that dog to do as above stated; and which resulted 
in their deliverance. 

We must now ask the attention of the reader to what transpired at 
Naponoch. Col. Cortland's regiment had been lying in the vicinty of 
Naponoch for some time previous to this event, but their time of serv- 
ice had expired a few days before the assault was made at Fantinekill; 
and it was supposed that the Tories had found this out, and made it 
known to the Indians. But the soldiers, having received some money, 
had got into a frolic at a tavern in Wawasink, and were there on the 
morning of the alarm. They were mustered with all possible speed, and 
when they came to Naponoch, were joined by Capt. Andries Bevier's 
company, and marched to the scene of action. When they came to the 
Naponoch Creek, the Indian yells and war-whoops were heard on the 
western hills, and the savages fired at them as they were crossing the 
stream, and continued to fire on them from the woods, as they passed 



34 IKDIAN NARRATIVES. 

on towards Fantinekill. Their fire was promptly returned by the regi- 
ment. It is not known that any loss was sustained on either side, at this 
stage of the action; but there is no doubt that Jesse and his sons killed 
some of them, as before intimated. The Indians made their way off to 
the west, firing the woods as they went, to avoid pursuit. — When the 
war-whoop was heard on the hills west of Naponoch, and the soldiers 
were seen leaving the place to go to Fantinekill, the women, children 
and invalids, made a precipitate flight to the Shawangunk Mountain, ex- 
pecting that the Indians would enter, and burn the place — which, indeed, 
they might have done with ease, had they known the situation of it. 
Two sons of Andries Bevier, lads of 12 or 14, ran across the mountain, 
through the burnt woods, bare footed, a distance of not less than live 
miles. They first came to the residence of a Mr. Manse, on the east side 
of the mountain; from thence they made their way to the Shawangunk 
village, and gave the alarm. Their names were Samuel and Cornelius 
Several members of Jacob Bevier's family also made their way across 
the mountain; but some of the neighbors missed their way, got lost, 
and were all night in the mountain, which was full of people from both 
sides, with horns, hunting for them. The little ones, and those who 
were feeble and infirm, went only to the base of the mountain, and se 
creted themselves amid the craggy rocks which nature has provided 
there in great abundance, especially along the sides of a noted ravine in 
the mountain, opposite to Naponoch, commonly called "Louis's Ra- 
vine." In their flight to the mountain they were joined by the young 
black, (Robert,) who escaped from Fantinekill. In crossing the Rond- 
out, a child of Andrew Bevier, by the name of Lewis, came near going 
down with the current. He was caught by a friendly hand, and helped 



EXAMPLE OF FILIAL PIETY. 35 

ashore. When they came lo the foot of the mountain, an invalid soldier 
climbed up a tree to see if Naponoch was on fire. He heard the firing 
of Cortland's regiment, and said he could distinguish it from the firing 
of the Indians, "because they fired by platoons." Towards night the 
men came to look for their families; but, apprehending that they might 
be Tories, they gave no heed to their calls until they were sure they 
were their friends. 

The most solemn and affecting scene in this part of our narrative 
remains to be told. 

Mr. Jacob Bevier, mentioned in the preceding narrative, lay sick, 
and unable to move. All the family had fled across the mountain, ex- 
cept an insane brother, by the name of Daniel, who was sitting on the 
fence, unconscious of his danger, and a daughter, who had resolved not 
to leave her father. The father expostulated with her; telling her that 
if the Indians came, she could not save him — that they must both inevi- 
tably fall before the tomahawk and scalping knife. But how could she 
leave a dear and tender father alone upon a sick bed, without any one 
to smooth his pillow or administer to his necessities? Every feeling of 
humanity and affection rose in opposition to the disinterested exhorta- 
tions of a tender father. Violent indeed must have been the struggle 
that agitated the bosom of that daughter, and which could only find 
relief in a flood of tears. No doubt her feelings were such as were ex- 
pressed by Ruth to Naomi, on a similar occasion — "Where thou lodgest 
I will lodge; where thou diest I will die, and there will I be buried." 
At last, the sound reasonings of the father, seconded by that strong in- 
nate principle implanted in the bosom of every human being by an all- 
wise Creator, which prompts us to efforts for self-preservation, pre- 



36 INDIAN NARRATIVES. 

vailed, and she made her way for old Shawangunk, through deribC 
thickets and over awful precipices, "where hills on hills, and Alps on 
Alps, arise." Being more fortunate than her sisters, who had started 
before, in finding the path; and having no child, as they had, to carry. 
she arrived first at the place of destination. 

Andries Bevier's black womari, "Nan," put over the dinner pot, and 
built a good fire under it, and then secreted herself along the creek, a 
short distance from the house. Knowing that the Indans were not dis- 
posed to injure blacks, and being able to speak their dialect, she had 
but little to fear from them. 

We must now notice the noble conduct of Capt. Coutrite on this 
occasion. As soon as he heard of the affair at Fantinekill, he directed 
his sergeant, (without waiting for orders from his superior officer,) to 
order out all his company, (about 70,) to be at his house the next morn- 
ing at daylight, armed and equipped, with provisions for two days. The 
summons was promptly obeyed. He stepped at the head of those "hearts 
of hickory," into whom he had, by his bold and soldierlike deportment 
and address, infused the same spirit, and marched them up to Graims- 
ville, a distance of 18 or 20 miles, with a view of intercepting the In- 
dians on their return from Fantinekill. He selected a suitable place, 
arranged his men in order, and awaited the arrival of the Indians. But, 
as usual, the Indians discovered him first; and instead of coming on 
the usual route, they passed by on his rear. 

The first salute he received, was a volley from the Indians; and one 
ball struck within six inches of the old captain's head; but they kept at 
a proper distance, knowing they had a giant to grapple with. Not an 
Indian could be seen. As my informant says, who was present at the 



BURIAL OF THE SOCKS FAMILY. 37 

time, "You can't see an Indian in the woods." An incident occurred 
here, which gave the soldiers some sport. A man by he name of Johan- 
nis Vernooy, affirmed that a hall had touched him. The soldiers, think- 
ing it only the result of his fears, sung out, "Where has it touched you, 
Honsum? Where has it touched you, Honsum?" At last is was dis- 
covered that the strap which held the buckle to his knee, was actually 
cut ofif by a bullet from the enemy. — The Indians soon made their way 
off, filling the woods with their yells and war-whoops, and the whites 
returned home Thus ended another fruitless attempt to intercept the 
wily foe of the white. 

The writer has been credibly informed that six of the individuals 
who perished at Fantinekill were buried in one grave, near the place 
where they lived and died. If those six were all of the Sock's family 
(which is believed to be the case^) then there were nine who lost 
their lives at this time, of the whites. The loss of the enemy is not 
known. The only house, which stood where the village of Ellenville is 
situated, was burnt. Its occupants made a narrow escape. It was owned 
by John Bodly. They, in common with several other families in the 
neighborhood of Loorenkill, fled to the mountain, and secreted them- 
selves; but fortunately the enemy did not reach that place. 

In concluding this narrative the writer would simply ask if it would 
not be an act worthy of the "sons of noble sires," who lost their lives 
in procuring for us the inestimable boon of liberty, to erect a marble 
slab, with some suitable inscription, to perpetuate their memory? We 
ask not a monument like that on Bunker Hill, or the one contemplated 
to the memory of Washington. Then, when our children shall ask us 
in time to come, "What means this stone?" we will tell them that our 



3» INDUN NARRATIVES. 

fathers were bondmen to King George, and that he made them "serve 
with rigor" in his wars, by sea and land — ^that he enacted laws, unwhole- 
some and tyrannical, and laid heavy taxes upon them without their con- 
sent — that the "Publicans," like the frogs of Egypt, come up over all 
the land — ^and that beneath this sod l^ys the honored dust of some who 
fell in obtaining redress for all those grievances. 



NARRATIVE V. 

Murder of John and Elsie Mack, by the Indians, In the Shawangunk Mountain— Narrow 
Escape of John Mans and Cktl. Jansen. 

The writer is well aware that a detailed account of this massacre, and 
all the circumstances connected with it, has long since been published, 
though he has never been able to procure a copy of it; and knowing 
that a desire to see it in print exists, especially amongst the connections 
of John Mack, the writer has been induced to give a sketch of it in this 
place. He is indebted for the materials to two individuals who had the 
statement direct from the lips of John Mans, with whom they were 
both well acquainted. 

Mr. John Mack, mentioned above, lived in Wawasink; he had a 
son-in-law named John Mans, who lived on the east side of the Shaw- 
angunk. Sometime during the war he resolved to go over to visit his 
daughter, accompanied by another daughter, named Elsie. In the morn- 
ing, as they started, they called at Peter Vernooy's. Elsie, who was 



JtURDEU OF JOHN AND ELSIE MACK. 39 

dressed in white, looked in the glass and observed, that she "looked like 
a corpse." This has always been considered very remarkable. 

There was at this time a footpath crossing the mountain. It began 
on the west side, at a place called Port Hyxon, and ended at 
Col. Jansen's afterwards General Jansen, west of the Shawangunk 
village. They crossed the mountain in safety, and made the contemplated 
visit. On their return his son-in-law accompanied him with two horses, 
as far as the top of the mountain, for him and Elsie to ride on, the old 
man being rather infirm. John Mans proposed to take his rifle with him, 
but his father warmly opposed it, saying it was not necessary. When 
they arrived at the top of the hill, where they were to separate., they 
dismounted, and the old man seated himself on a log and smoked his 
pipe. Whilst setting here, Mans discovered by the horses' ears that 
they saw something, and looking round he discovered two men advanc- 
ing in the path which they had just left, and another, whom he recog- 
nized as a notorious Indian, called Shanks Ben, taking a circuitous route 
through the woods, in order to get in advance, and so surround them. 
Mans understood his design, and was aware of the imminent danger that 
awaited him. It was then that he regretted bitterly that he had not taken 
his rifle. He said he might have shot the Indian„ if he had had it. The 
other two were Tories. They had with them two young negroes which 
they had taken prisoners at Col. Jansen's. Mans started with Elsie by 
the hand, in a direction so as to elude the design of his enemy. The old 
man, knowing it would be vain for him to attempt to flee, sat still, re- 

• It may be proper here to state that John Mans and Shanss Ben had been well 
acquainted before the war;— had lived on terms of Intimacy with each other— had often 
Joined in the chase, for which both were famous, and also for running; but a qaarrel 
about a dog, and the war, had broke up this Intimacy, and they were now bitter enemies. 



40 INDIAN NARRATIVES 

signed to his (awful fate. Mans ran with the girl until he came to a 
precipice of about twenty feet perpendicular, down which he jumped. 
Here he was obliged to leave the girl, notwithstanding her earnest en- 
treaties to the contrary. He thought he might have saved her, had it 
not been for a little dog which followed them, and kept constantly bark- 
ing, by which the Indian could follow. In jumping down the precipice 
he sprained his ancle, which troubled him considerably. He was obliged 
to take of? his shoe and stocking and go bare-footed, on account of the 
swelling of his foot. 

When he came in sight of Col. Jansen's, he saw a number of men 
around, and not knowing whether they were friends or foes, he tarried 
some time, until he discovered they were whites. He then approached, 
and related the awful tale; but the fatal blow was struck — the scalping- 
knife and tomahawk had done their work— his father-in-law and the 
blooming maiden were found side by side, covered with purple gore, 
and their immortal spirits fled for ever, — The scene was solemn and af- 
fecting beyond description It was with difficulty, in after times, that 
Mans couM be persuaded to relate this melancholy tale; and he could 
never do it without shedding a flood of tears; and the recital of which 
usually affected his auditors in the same way. Hard indeed must be the 
heart of that man in whose eye the tear will not start at scenes like this. 

Intimately connected with this narrative is the account of the nar- 
row escape of Col. Jansen from being taken by the same party who killed 
Mr. Mack and daughter. 

A desperate efifort was made by Shanks Ben and others, to take Col. 
Jansen, and some other distinguished individuals who lived in that 
vicinity. It is probable that a large reward was placed on their heads by 



ESCAPE OF MANS AND JANSEN. 41 

the British. That notorious Indian, as has since been ascertained, had 
been laying for whole days and nights in places of concealment, waiting 
for an opportunty to take those distinguished "sons of liberty," but a 
kind providence would not permit him to accomplish his nefarious de- 
sign. 

Early one morning the Colonel went to his barn to see his stock, 
and discovered Shanks Ben in the stable. He ran for the house with all 
his might, and the Indian in close pursuit. The black woman, who was 
in the stable milking, saw the race. She said that the Indian came so 
close that he grasped after the skirts of his coat — but he reached the 
house in safety, closed the door, and secured it. The Indian, disap- 
pointed of his prey, and exasperated, seized an axe which happened to 
lay near by, and began to work his way through the door, the Colonel 
then called to his wife to fetch him his pistols, which he fired, or in- 
tended to fire through the door. The Indian however desisted, and went 
into the kitchen, where he and the two Tories, (who were recognized as 
such by the black woman, who observed that they had blue eyes and 
painted faces), helped themselves to the best that the house could afford, 
not forgetting the cider, of which the Indians are excessively fond. 

Whilst the enemy were thus engaged, a white girl by the name of 
Goetches was observed by the black woman coming to the house. She 
made signs to her to go back, but she misunderstood them, thinking she 
meant her to come, which she did, when she was taken prisoner. The 
enemy took her a short distance; but she being unwilling to go with 
them, they dragged her along for some time, and then killed and scalped 
her. They took two young negroes of Col. Jansen's, who have never 
been heard of since. They were seen by Mans in the mountain. An 



42 INDIAN NARBATIVE8. 

alarm was given at Jansen's, either by blowing a horn or firing a gun, 
and the neighbors come to his relief; but, as usual, the work of death 
was done, and the enemy were beyond the reach of pursuit. 

Such are some of the miseries of war. May we, by contrast, learn 
to appreciate the blessings of peace, and all those invaluable institutions 
for which our venerable ancestors pledged their "lives, their fortunes, 
and their sacred honor;" and which they so nobly won. 



NARRATIVE VI. 

Burning of Wawaslnk— Murder of Kettle— Noble Conduct of Captains Kortrlte, Harden- 
bergb and Pierson— Capture of Hlne and Bouck— Their Sufferings and Escape— End 
of the War. 

This last attempt of the savages, under the command and direction 
of British authority, to exterminate the inhabitants of this frontier, oc- 
curred on the I2th of August, 1781, and was the most extensive invasion 
since the commencement of the war. The design was bold and well con- 
certed; but a kind and gracious providence, to whom they were much 
more indebted than to the efficiency of their sentinel, would not permit 
them to accomplish it, as will be seen in the sequel. This expedition 
against the frontier inhabitants, was fitted out at one of the British posts, 
and put under the command of a white man by the name of Caldwell, 
with directions to commence his assault at Capt Andries Bevier's at 



BURNING OF WAWASINK. 43 

Naponoch; and to kill or capture all the inhabitants, and to destroy or 
carry off their property until they came to the widow Hasbrouck's 12 
miles northeast of Naponoch — commonly known in those times at the 
"rest place," from its being the half-way house, or place where travellers 
usually called, on their way to Kingston— if he thought he could get back 
alive; and if he did not, he should be tried for his life on his return. 

It will now be necessary to give an account of the spies, or rangers, 
as they were sometimes called, who were captured by the Indians; and 
of the intelligence given to the Indians by the Tories, through which they 
were taken. As has been stated in the Introduction, it was the practice 
to keep out spies in the direction from which the enemy was expected, 
in order that thy might not be taken by surprise. In preparing for one 
of the "scouts," Philip Hine had occasion to purchase some meat of 
Jeremiah Kettle, who resided in the vicinity of Newtown, He made par- 
ticular inquiries of Mr. H. as to where he was going, &c., to which he 
gave honest replies, not suspecting it would appear at the time that he 
was a Tory. No sooner did he know his intentions, than he found some 
means of communicating it to the enemy — [It should be remembered 
here, that the neighborhood of Newtown abounded with Tories, that 
they had frequent intercourse with the Indians, and joined with them in 
their assaults on the whites.] Mr. Hine, accompanied by Mr. Bouck, 
went on the contemplated cruise. When they came along the Neversink 
creek, 20 odd miles southwest of Naponoch, they discovered a body of 
Indians and Tories* advancing. They watched their course secretly un- 
til they saw that their place of destination was Wawasink; they then 
took a circuitous route, and struck the road, as they supposed, far in 

• The traditionary accounts of the number of the enemy vary from 302 to 600. 



44 INDIAN NARRATIVES. 

advance of the enemy; but in this they were mistaken. The Indians 
having been apprised by the Tory Kettle that spies were out, were on 
the alert, and discovered some footmarks where the spies had crossed 
a stream of water. With all the dispatch characteristic of that wily foe, 
runners were sent in pursuit, and soon overtook them. My informant 
says it was not more than half an hour after the spies struck the road 
before they were taken by the Indians. At this period of our narrative 
the reader will be ready to exclaim with David — "all these things are 
against me!" but there was a providence in this; and out of this apparent 
evil, the Lord brought much good to his people. 

The prisoners were required, on pain of death, to give a correct ac- 
coimt of the fortifications, and other means of defence on the frontier 
at Wawasink. They told them there was a cannon at Capt. Bevier's at 
Naponoch. On account of this intelligence they did not commence their 
attack at that place, and consequently much property, and perhaps 
precious lives, were saved. As those Indians were part of the confed- 
erated Six Nations who took part in the French and Indian war of 1755, 
it is probable that some of them at least had witnessed the destructive 
power of grape-shot and cannon balls; and also in the expedition of 
Gen. Schuyler against them, in the war of 1776. But in this case they 
would not have been injured, for the old cannon laid on the woodpile 
without a carriage, and could have been of no use in defending the fort, 
or the place. The fort also was unfinished. 

The prisoners were tied hand and foot, apart from each other. In 
this situation they were compelled to remain for the most part of three 
days and nights without any thing to eat or drink, until the Indians re- 
turned. — Whoever has experienced the sensation caused by holding the 



BURNING OF WAWASINK. 45 

limbs in one position for a length of time — and then add to that, hunger 
and thirst, fear from wild beasts, and the well-founded apprehension that 
the wives of their bosom, their children, and all that were dear to them 
by the ties of nature and affection, would in all probability fall a prey 
to the ruthless tomahawk and scalping-knife — may form some idea of 
their awful sufferings. 

I should be guilty of injustice to the memory of a noble and virtu- 
ous man, if I omitted to relate the following circumstance, which oc- 
curred at this time. It had been the intention of the Indians to dispatch 
one hundred of their troops, under the command of Shanks Ben, across 
the forest, from the Delaware river to Newtown, to commence the work 
of death there, and meet their comrades at some place in the valley of 
the Rondout. But by an accident which occurred in drying some powder 
which had been wet, Shanks Ben and several other were burnt, so that 
he was unable to perform the service. Hereupon, the Indians proposed 
to Silas Bouck that if he would perform that service, they would grant 
him his liberty the moment he came to Newtown. This proposal he 
nobly rejected, with disdain. He said "they could but kill him." and he 
would rather die on the spot than be accessory to the death of his 
countrymen! How unlike the conduct of Benedict Arnold is this, who, 
for a little paltry dust, was willing to sacrifice an army of patriots, and 
the cause of liberty. 

After securing the prisoners, and obtaining information from them, 
as above stated, they set forward for Wawasink. On that ever memor- 
able Sabbath, the 12th of August, 1781, early in the morning, they ar- 
rived at the old Stone Fort in Wawasink. which was situated on the 
present site of B. C. Hoornbeek's house, near the old church. Having 



46 INDIAN NAREATIVES. 

taken the spies, no notice had been received at the fort of their approach, 
and most of its occupants were yet in their beds. Two individuals, how- 
ever, had left the fort that morning, viz., Mr. Johanis Hoornbeek, and a 
colored man named Flink. A young woman named Catharine Vernooy, 
was also about leaving the fort, to go and milk, when she saw the In- 
dians coming. She returned to the fort, closed the door, and called to 
Chambers to assist her in getting the huge brace against it. This Cham- 
bers was stationed on the sentry-box at the time, but being somewhat 
deranged, he did not fire his gun. Fortunately, however, he sung out, 
"vyand, vyand." — enemy, enemy. No sooner had they secured the door, 
than the Indians came against it with all their might, in order to burst 
it in. Had not the door been secured at that instant, the enemy would 
inevitably have gained admittance to the fort, and the fate of its inmates 
would have been sealed. 

The Atheist and the Epicurean may attribute this narrow escape to 
the influence of that imaginary being whom they call Fortune., or 
Chance, but the Christian sees and acknowledges in this the hand of an 
overruling providence, without whose sovereign will and plteasure not 
so much as a sparrow can fall to the ground. It is due to the memory 
of our Huguenot and Dutch ancestors to state that they have always 
acknowledged the hand of God in this preservation, and given Him the 
glory. 

The negro Flink soon discovered the Indians approaching the fort, 
after he left it. He concealed himself until he saw that they did not 
obtain an entrance into the fort, and then left his milk-pail and made 
his way with all possible speed to the fort at Naponoch, to inform them 
of the arrival of the enemy. Mr. Hoornbeek, the other individual who 



BURNING OF WAWASINK. 47 

left the fort to see to his corn-field, heard the alarm when about a mile 
from the fort. Being a large fleshy man, and not able to travel fast on 
foot, he succeeded in catching a horse owned by Mr. Bruyn, which he 
mounted, and made ofT to his father's Benjamin Hoornbeek, who lived 
at Rochester, where Deyo now lives. When he came there, he was so 
completely exhausted by excitement and fatigue, that he fell upon the 
floor as dead, but recovered sufficiently to be able to return home in the 
afternoon, in company with the troops who went in pursuit of the In- 
dians. 

The old stone fort was now the scene of active operations. The 
men leaped from their beds, and without much attention to dress, as the 
reader will readily imagine, seized their guns, which were always at hand, 
and commenced their defence. John Griffin was the first who fired, and 
he brought one of the sons of the forest to the ground. Another Indian 
came to remove him from the ground, and just as he stooped to raise 
him up, Cornelius Vernocy gave him a charge of shot, having had his gun 
loaded with shot to kill a duck which came in his mill-pond. The other 
Indians soon hurried them both away, and they were seen no more. It is 
probable that they were both killed. Finding it "was vain to fight when 
lead was all their booty," the Indians dispersed through the neighborhood 
— some to plunder and fire buildings, and others to attack other fortified 
posts. I 

At Peter Vernooy's, who lived about a quarter of a mile southeast 
of the fort, they made an attack, but were bravely repulsed by the little 
garrison, which consisted of but one efficient man, and two others who 
were not able to afiford much assistance. On the first advance of the 
Indians, Vernooy shot one from from a window in the southeast side of 



48 INDIAN NARhATIVES. 

the house. One of the men went into the garret to try to get a crack at 
them. He discovered some of them behind a ledge of rocks northeast of 
the house, watching for an opportunity to fire, when any one came be- 
fore the port-holes. Whilst he was preparing to fire at them, he saw 
the flash of their priming — he drew back his head suddenly, and the ball 
just grazed his face. An old hat which hung up in the garret had been 
mistaken for a man's head, and was full of bullet-holes. 

The conduct of the women at this place was worthy of the daughters 
of liberty, and deserves to be noticed. It appears there were three in 
the house — Mrs. Peter Vernooy and two of her connections from Lacka- 
wack. Some of them loaded the guns for the men (of which it appears 
they had a double set) whilst other stood with axes, determined to plunge 
them into their foes, if they should attempt to break through the win- 
dows, which were fortified with blocks of oak, or other hard wood. 
Mrs. V. had a family of small children at this time. Some of them were 
laying in the bunk, and became very uneasy at the unusual proceedings 
about them, but the heroic matron addressed them in language so de- 
cided and unequivocal as instantly to secure their quiet. 

At Cornelius Bevier's, where E. Vernooy now lives, the enemy 
found none to oppose them. They entered the house, built a fire on the 
floor, with some of the furniture; and then left it, taking with them a 
colored woman and two deformed colored boys a short distance, when 
they let them return home. The fire had progressed but little, and they 
succeeded in putting it out. 

It does not appear that the Indians had any desire to kill the blacks 
— probably because they were slaves, and no bounty was paid by the 
British for their scalps. It is evident that the Indians used to regard 



MUEDER OF KETTLE. 49 

the negroes as a race of beings far inferior to themselves. They used to 
designate them by an opprobious epithet, which modesty forbids me to 
mention. 

The next assault was made at Cornelius Depuy's, where a few neigh- 
bors were assembled, as the custom was, for mutual safety, and defence. 
The enemy advanced from the hills southeast of the house. The person 
who acted as commander of this little garrison ordered them not to fire 
until they came quite near, but a lad of 16, named Garret Vanwagenen, 
full of enthusiasm and patriotic fire, could not wait for the word of com- 
mand. He had his old Holland gun well charged, and levelled at one of 
them. He fired, and brought him to the ground. The Indians then fled 
in another direction. Some shots were discharged at them, but with 
what effect is not known. 

The next attack was at the stone house of John Kettle, where John 
Stall now lives. 

It will now be necessary to give a sketch of the noble conduct of 
Capt. J. L. Hardenbergh, on this occasion. He was at Esq. J. G. Hard- 
enbergh's at the time of the alarm, one mile east of Kettle's, with only 
six men with him — (some say but two.) He determined to go to the 
relief of his countrymen, notwithstanding the imminent danger which 
he had to face. When he came in sight of Kettle's house, he saw a num- 
ber of Indians in advance, in the road. To attempt to fight them with 
so few men, without any fortification, was vain, and there was no time 
to be lost — all depended on the decision of the moment. His vigorous 
and active mind furnished a stratagem which answered his design to 
admiration. He turned aside into the woods, with his little band of 
Spartan heroes, so that their numbers could not be perceived by the 



50 INDIAN NAEKATIVES. 

enemy, took off his hat, huzzaed with all his might, and advanced 
towards Kettle's house, which was in the same direction as the Indians. 
The enemy, supposing that a company of Tories were coming from New- 
town, or, what is more probable, that the troops were coming up from 
Pinebush, skulked oflf in every direction. This gave the captain time to 
reach the house. Just as he reached the door, the Indians, discovering 
the trick, poured a shower of bullets at him, which struck against the 
door and sides of the building, but our heroes escaped unhurt. They 
broke holes through the rear of the house with an axe, which fortunately 
had remained in the house, and also through the roof, for port-holes, 
and then defended themselves without much difficulty. Some Indians 
were killed here. The captain found the house occupied by three sol- 
diers, one of whom was Henry Kettle, son of John Kettle, whom the 
Indians murdered. 

The Indians proceeded as far as the Cohonkson, a small stream, 
about three and a half miles northeast of the old fort at Wawasink, near 
which they shot John Kettle, the father of Henry Kettle, above men- 
tioned. Jacobus Bruyn had removed with his family over the mountain, 
for safety from the Indians, and it appears that Mr. Kettle had been 
about his premises, to see to some of his things, and was there at the 
time when the alarm occurred. He took a route over the fields to go 
to the fort at Pinebush, and struck the road near the Cohonkson, where 
he was shot. His was the only scalp which they took in this expedition. 

While the above mentioned events were transpiring the forts at 
Naponoch and Pinebush were the scenes of intense interest and suspense. 
When the firing ceased for a moment, they were ready to conclude that 
the Indians had gained the ascendency, and that they were engaged in 



BtlENrNG OF WAWASINK. 51 

scalping and mangling the dead bodies of their friends and brethren. 
Then again they would hear the report of one of the old Holland guns 
which could be plainly distinguished from the light arms of the Indians, 
and told in unequivocal terms that all as yet was well; and then they 
would break forth in fervent ejaculations thanking God for their pres- 
ervation. The first firing in the morning at Wawasink was distinctly 
heard at Pinebush; and as it was unlawful to fire a gun, except in self- 
defence, or as an alarm, they immediately knew that the enemy was 
there. Alarm-guns were immediately fired at Pinebush. at Millhook, and 
so along the frontier towards Kingston. Col. John Cantine of Mar- 
bletown was then the first in command at Pinebush. It appears that this 
officer possessed a large share of prudence and caution — but whether 
his prudent movements were "ill-timed" or not on this occasion, or 
whether he deserved the charge of cowardice I shall leave the reader to 
conclude, and shall content myself with stating the facts, as given by 
one then in the service. 

There was a Capt. Burnet from Little Britain, then in the service 
at Pinebush, under Col. Cantine. Capt. Benjamin Kortrite, of 
Rochester, was a brave and resolute officer— willing to stare danger in 
the face, and go wherever duty and his official oath required, and the 
writer feels a pleasure in bearing testimony to his noble and soldier-like 
deportment on this occasion. He and Burnet, had their men in readi- 
ness at an early hour, anxious to proceed to the scene of action, but 
Cantine made no move to that effect. When the flames of the burning 
buildings were seen ascending in the lower part of Wawasink, either Bur- 
net or Kortrite addressed Col. Cantine as follows: "How can you re- 
main here, when, in all probability, the Indians are murdering our friends 



52 INDIAN NAERATIVES. 

at Wawasink? How can you stand it?" Then and not until then, he 
put the troops in motion for Wawasink. He sent a guard in advance, 
and when they arrived at the place where the Middleport School-house 
now stands, the guard returned, and told the Colonel that the Indians 
were at the Cohonkson. He immediately wheeled about, with a few 
others, and went back to the fort. Capts. Burnet and Kortrite marched 
their companies to the summit of the hill, southwest of the school-house, 
ready to meet the enemy, if they should advance, at the same time mak- 
ing the greatest possible show of numbers, by marching in columns to 
the brow of the hill, then wheeling suddenly in the rear, and then ad- 
vancing again to the summit, from which they might be seen by the 
enemy. The Indians not making their appearance, and apprehending 
that they might take a circuitous route and pass them unnoticed, they 
returned to the fort, and addressed Col. Cantine as follows: — "This will 
not do; the Indians may pass the fort on either side, and murder the 
women and children below the fort." Then Col. C. ordered out a guard 
some distance from the fort on each side, to watch the enemy. It is 
said that Capt. Kortrite was indignant at the tardy movements of the 
Colonel. 

We must now give an account of the proceedings at the fort at 
Naponoch, where the widow of Conradt Bevier now lives. It has al- 
ready been stated that the negro Flink escaped to this place, from whom 
they obtained some account of the number of the enemy, &c. The con- 
duct of Capt. Pierson on this occasion, is worthy of particular notice. 
Although he had been laboring under an indisposition for some time 
when the alarm came at Naponoch, he left his bed, took off his hand- 
kerchief from his head, stepped out in front of the fort, and called out 



BTJBNING OF WAWA81NK. 53 

for volunteers. He said he did not want a man to go that would not 
face the enemy, and fight like a hero. He was solicited by the women, 
and others to remain for their protection,* but he replied that he was 
bound by his official oath, to go where the enemy was, and go he would. 
[The reader will observe the contrast between the conduct of this officer, 
and that of Col. Cantine, in precisely similar circumstances.] Among 
the first who responded to this call, were Conradt Bevier and Jacobus 
De Witt — two of the bravest of the brave. Both had served in the regu- 
lar army, and were present at the surrender of Burgoyne. The writer 
regrets that he is not able to ascertain, at this late day, the number who 
volunteered on this occasion. It was probably not more than 12 or 13. 
A negro servant having a particular attachment to C. Bevier, resolved 
that he would go with him, and die in his defence, if circumstances 
should require it! This little band of veterans, resolVing to live or 
die together, set forward for the scene of action. When they came to 
the schoolhouse, half a mile from the fort at Naponoch. they found it 
on fire, — no doubt fired by the Indians, They carried water in their 
hats and put it out. They then advanced cautiously over the lowland, 
until they came in sight of the fort. About this time an Indian sentinel 
who had been stationed on a hill, to give notice of the arrival of rein- 
forcements at the fort, fired his gun, which made the Indians withdraw 
farther from the fort. At this moment those within the fort discov- 
ered Capt. Pierson and his volunteers, and made signs for them to 
approach and enter, an undertaking which they effected with safety. 

* In tbe midst of this deep saspense and alarm, when the enemy were hourly ex- 
pected, a man by the name of De Witt, very deaiberately strapped his razor and com- 
menced sbavlng! He was asked by another "if be wanted to have a nice scalp for the 
Indians?" 



54 INDIAN NARRATIVES. 

Encouraged by this addition to their force, the besieged men waxed 
bold, and went out of the fort, and fought the Indians from behind 
trees, out-buildings, &c. In the mean time the Indians entered the 
church, and amused themselves by throwing their tomahawks at the 
numbers, which, according to the custom of the times, were placed on 
the panel's of the pulpit, designating the psalm or hymn to be sung. 
This served as a mark to throw at. Two or three gashes were made 
clear through the pulpit, which was never repaired, but left as a me- 
morial, like the gashes in the door of Col. Jansen's house in the town 
of Shawangunk, made by Shank's Ben. But in compliance with the 
orders "of our most gracious Lord and Sovereign, King George," the 
building was not destroyed. He probably thought that after his re- 
fractory subjects had been sufficiently chastised for their rebellion, and 
had returned to their allegiance, they might want it to worship in. 
Two Indians were seen standing in the church door, and Wm. Bodly 
and Conradt Bevier, determined to have a crack at them. They crept 
along the fence in the bush until they came within gun-shot. Bevier 
levelled his piece and drew the trigger, but unfortunately it snapped. 
The Indian looked round as though he heard it. He tried it again, 
and again it snapped. Bodly then fired, and they both ran for the fort, 
about a quarter of a mile. As Bevier passed under the boughs of an 
apple tree, a shot from the Indians cut oflf a limb just above his head. 
It is remarkable that Bevier's gun missed fire at this time, as he said 
it was very sure at other times. We may suppose that God, whose 
providence extends no less over savage than civilized man, had some- 
thing more for him to do in this world. Perhlaps he was to be the 
instrument of wrath, in the hands of God, on some of his disobedient 



BUENINa OF WAWA8IKK. 55 

children. Bodly's shot struck in the door post, just grazing the crown 
of the Indian's head. 

A circumstance occurred, long after, which may be interesting to 
the reader, as it shows a peculiar trait in the character of a "warrior." 
Long after the war, a brother of Jacobus De Witt was in the western 
part of New York, and accidentally met with the Indian who made so 
narrow an escape in the church door. On hearing that De Witt was 
from Wawasink, he asked him if he knew who it was that shot at him 
while standing in the church door, De Witt told him it was Wra. 
Bodly; whereupon he said, "It was a good shot; and that if ever he 
met with that man, he would treat him well." 

Towards noon, when most of the Indians were in the lower part of 
the town, Cornelius Bevier went from the fort to water his cattle^ where 
E. Vernooy now lives, and Jacobus De Witt went with him. While 
there, he ascended the hill towards the old burying ground. Here he 
discovered two Indians walking directly from him, in Indian file; he 
thought he could shoot them both at once, but just as he got ready to 
fire, they stepped aside of each other; so he shot one of them, and then 
ran for the fort. His corpse was afterwards found near the place. He 
had put on new moccasons, and other apparel, before he died — doubt- 
less as a preparation for entering upon those Elysian fields and spa- 
cious hunting grounds, which the Indian imagines will be his place of 
abode in a future state of existence. In passing under an apple tree, 
De Witt stubbed his toe, and fell. Just at that instant, the shot from 
the surviving Indian passed directly over his head. Here again, we are 
called upon to adore and magnify that almighty Being, who presides 



56 INDIAN NAEBATIVES. 

alike over the fate of empires and individuals, and in whose hands our 
breath is. 

An Indian was seen from the fort, going with a fire-brand to burn 
the house where C. Hoornbeek now lives. Benjamin Hoombeek, 
brother of Daniel, now living, having one of the long Holland pieces, 
lired at him. The ball struck a stone on the hill, and bounded against 
the house in contact with his majesty's person. He dropped his fire- 
brand, gave a tremendous leap, and suddenly disappeared in the woods. 
This single shot was the means of saving that house from the general 
conflagration of that eventful day. 

The old neighborhood of Wawasink, on the morning of that day, 
must have been the scene of sublime and awful grandeur. Five or six 
dwelling houses, seven barns and one grist-mill, were all enveloped in 
flames, which mounted up in curled columns to the clouds of heaven, 
sweeping all before them — no one being able to offer any resistance 
to their raging fury. The houses were stored with the products of the 
industry of many years; consisting of the articles requisite for the 
comforts and conveniences of civilized life; and the barns had just been 
filled with a plenteous harvest. 

Such are the effects and consequences of war. May God save us 
from another scene like this. 

About Monday, the Indians left the town, heavily laden with spoils, 
consisting of stock, bedding, wearing apparel, &c. They took some 
lime, or plaster, supposing it to be flour, as far as Graimsville, where 
they tried to make bread of it, and found out their mistake. 

At Esquire Hardenbergh's, it is said, they fared sumptuously. They 
took the whortleberry pie, of which there was a good batch on hand, 



BUENING OF WAWA6INK. 



57 



and broke it up in tubs of sweet milk, and then ate it. The Esquire had 
barely time to escape with his family and two teams, which carried 
them to Old Hurley. 

Large quantities of clothing were taken from this place, some of 
which was left by the Indians when closely pursued, as the reader will 
see in the sequel. The Indians were very intent on getting as much 
plunder as possible. Had they not occupied so much of their time in 
this, they might probably have gotten more scalps. Some individuals, 
who had concealed themselves in the brush, along the fences, made 
narrow escapes, when the Indians came to drive the cattle from the 
fields— some threw little sticks at the cattle, in order to turn them away 
from the places where they were concealed. When the Indians were 
leaving the place, a personage of no ordinary appearance and pretensions 
was seen emerging from the woods into the highway near the old 
church. The sight was truly imposing. He was mounted on a noble 
steed, which they had taken from Esq. H.'s, and was arrayed in gor- 
geous apparel, according to Indian notions. He had silver bands about 
his arms-had on silver broaches; and a bunch of some forty sUver 
broaches hanging about his maiesty's person. He was discovered by 
some soldiers who were constantly on the alert, watching for a chance 
to get a crack at the enemy, as they were leaving the to^s-n. John 
Mack, brother of Jesse Mack, levelled his rifle at him, and fired. He 
was seen to sag over on his horse, but the other Indians soon turned 
the horse into the woods, and for the present he disappeared. Some 
time after^vard, Cornelius Bevier found his corpse in the woods, near 
the place where he was shot. His ornaments and trinkets were still 
about him. It is probable that the loss of this chief did much to in- 



58 INDIAN NARRATIVES. 

timidate the Indians, and hasten their retreat from the town. 

In the course of the afternoon, Capt. Paulain, of the State troops, 
came up with his company from Hurley, and was joined by Col. Can- 
tine's troops at Rochester. Among the Captains were Burnet, J. L. 
Hardenbergh, and Kortright. They lodged at the old stone fort on 
Sunday night. Early on Monday morning, the 13th of August, they set 
out in pursuit of the enemy. My informant, who was in the service 
at the time, thinks that their whole force did not Exceed 400 men, in- 
cluding those who went from the fort at Wawasink. 

I should have stated before that one of the British troops, a Ger- 
man, by the name of Vrooman, deserted the Indians on Honkhill, and 
surrendered to the whites. He left his gun at a distance, and thus ap- 
proached, making signs of peace. Some of the soldiers were indig- 
nant at him, and wished to kill him, but this would have been murder. 
From this man, and from the spies, who both returned, much of the 
matter embodied in this narrative has been obtained. 

When the troops came to Graimsville, they saw where the Indians 
had lodged on Sunday night— where they had tried to make bread of 
lime, &c. Towards night they got to Peenpeck, along the Delaware. 
The advance guard returned, and informed the officers that they came 
to a fire kindled of small sticks, and they were not burnt through. This 
was evidence that the Indians could not be far in advance. It was pro- 
posed to double the advance guard. Capt. Kortright oflfered to go 
with his whole company. While a consultation was going on among 
the officers, an accident occurred which was very unfortunate in its 
results. Dr. Vanderlyn, of Kingston, was sitting on a log, with his 
gun in his hands, when by way of amusement, he unthinkingly cocked 



HINE AND BROUCK TAKEN TO NIAGARA. 59 

it, and on returning it to its place it was discharged. The Indians were 
alarmed, and instantly fled in small parties, leaving their white com- 
mander alone with the Tories and the prisoners — Hine and Bouck. At 
this place large packages of spoils were left by the Indians, in their 
hasty flight, but these were not found by the whites until several months 
afterwards. The result of the consultation of the officers, was to return 
home. Capt. J. L. Hardenbergh, and some other brave spirits, who 
knew not what fear was, were anxious to pursue; but Col. John Can- 
tine opposed it. In an interview on this occasion between Col. Cantine, 
who manifested as usual, a very reluctant disposition, or, to say the 
least, a very questionable prudence, like General Lee in his retreat 
before the British in New Jersey, in the American Revolution, he was 
told by Capt. H., "that he could not die before his time came;" to 
which he replied, that "if the Indians had their tomahawks above his 
head his time would be there." The reader will perceive that he did not 
put much faith in the doctrine of predestination. Had they advanced, 
they might have taken Colwell and the Tories, and released the prison- 
ers. One thing is certain, they would have recovered a large portion 
of the spoils. 

It is said that the efficiency of the Indians was greatly impaired by 
eating soft corn, raw^ or but partially cooked, which they had taken 
from the corn-fields at Wawasink; that they were scant of food, and 
much intimidated by the loss of their chief, as before intimated; but all 
this was not known to the whites at the time. The squaws met them, 
on their return, with parched com. 

The commander, Colwell, being forsaken by his Indian guides, told 
Silas Bouck that if he would pilot him through to Niagara, he would 



60 INDUN NABRATIVES. 

do all in his power to save him from running the gantlet when he came 
to the fort. This he consented to do. On their arrival at Niagara, 
Philip Hine proposed allegiance to the British Crown, and was per- 
mitted to have some liberty, and went with the British troops to Troy. 
It does not appear that he served in any engagement against the 
Americans. One tradition says that he came back after peace was re- 
stored; another, that he escaped under pretence of going on a hunting 
expedition. Be this as it may, in the good providence of God, he ar- 
rived safe among his friends, and was received as from the dead. 

His brother prisoner, Silas Bouck, met with quite a different fate. 
He was taken to Montreal,, and put in a log hut, or prison, with two 
other prisoners, and kept scant in provisions, and that of the filthiest 
and meanest kind. 

They succeeded in raising up one of the boards of the floor, and 
dug a hole under the side of the building, with the help of an old knife 
which they found in the building. In the day time they lay still and 
peaceable — at night they dug, carefully concealing the dirt under the 
floor, and replacing the board before morning. Having some reason to 
apprehend that the time of their execution was at hand, and a dark 
night coming, they made their exit through the subterraneous passage, 
and entered the St. Lawrence. Bouck was ahead. They had not gone 
far, before one cried out, in anguish, that he was sinking; but no as- 
sistance could be afforded — each had work for himself. When near- 
ing the opposite shore, the same cry was heard from the other. Bouck 
was growing very weak as he advanced towards the shore. He thought 
perhaps he might reach the bottom, but was afraid to try. At last he 
attempted and found it, and soon after reaching the beach, he made his 



ESCAPE OF BorCK. 61 

way into the wilderness, not knowing where he was going. At length 
morning came, the sun rose, and by the assistance of that celestial 
luminary, he was enabled to direct his course with more certainty. 
Never were his benignant rays more welcome to a traveller, than on 
this occasion. But hunger soon began to torture his already emaciated 
frame; and then it was that He who "hears the ravens when they cry," 
and who "satisfies the desire of every living thing," interposed in his 
behalf. He saw a rattle-snake in his path. Fortunately he had pre- 
served his jack-knife., with which he cut a crotched stick and put it 
over his neck, and then cut oflf his head. This snake he dressed and ate, 
raw. But this did not last long, and hunger again began to pinch him 
hard. In this extremity he came in sight of a small house. He watched 
it closely, and discovered that its occupants consisted of a man and 
woman only. He resolved to wait until the man should leave the 
house, when he would rush in, kill the woman, get provisions, and then 
be oflf. He had not waited long before the husband left the house and 
went oflf in an opposite direction. He then went to the house. The 
moment he entered the door, the woman screamed out, "you are a de- 
serter!" There lay some bread and meat on the table, which she told 
him to take, and be oflf, or he was a dead man. She told him that there 
was a large body of Indians near by, and that her husband was gone 
to them. He took the bread, and hastened into the woods, where see- 
ing a hoHow tree lying down, he crawled into it, — a hole towards the 
top serving for air and light. He had been here but a short time, when 
he heard the Indians traversing the forest in search of him. In the 
night he came out and resumed his journey; and after enduring a de- 
gree of suflfering seldom equalled, he arrived at Catskill, along the Hud- 
son River, about fourteen months after he was taken by the Indians. 



62 INDIAN NARRATIVES. 

The freemen of Rochester were assembled at a public house, situ- 
ated on the present stand, in front of the Rochester Parsonage, to 
transact some public business. The long and bloody war with Great 
Britain was about coming to a happy and glorious termination, and 
every patriot's pulse beat high with the bright and animating prospect 
of domestic happiness and peace, and national honor and glory. In the 
midst of this "feast of reason and flow of soul," one was discovered in 
the distance, having the appearance of "a wayfaring man." As he ap- 
proached, some dared to hint that it might be Silas Bouck. As he 
advanced it became more evident that they were not mistaken — they 
thought it was possible that he was yet alive. But they were not long 
in suspense; the joyful news resounded throughout the assembly that 
Bouck was coming, when with one simultaneous rush, they left the 
house and went to meet him. They could scarcely believe their own 
eyes. They seized him, and carried him into the house* while the air 
resounded with their shouts of joy. If ever there was perfect joy on 
this side of heaven, it was felt on this occasion. They had been part- 
ners in the trials and vicissitudes of a seven years' war; and now they 
were to enjoy, in common, the dear-bought and blessed boon of liberty. 

On the return of the Indians to Niagara it was ascertained that 
eighteen of their number were missing; one of them, however, returned 
late in the fall, having driven a cow all the way and lived on the milk; 
making their loss in this expedition, seventeen men. 

Thus ended the depredations of the Indians on this frontier. 

* Intoxicating drinks were, In those times, the universal badge of friendship. My 
Informant says, *'he believes they would have given him five quarts. If he would have 
swallowed tt." 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 

NO. I. 

TREATMENT OF TORIES AFTER THE WAR BY THE WHIGS. 

It has already been stated in the Introduction that the most bitter 
animosity existed between the Tories and the "sons of liberty," as those 
were called who were in favor of the "Revolution," — the long and patri- 
otic struggle for achieving political independence of Great Britain. The 
reader will readily apprehend that that feeling did not subside immedi- 
ately at the close of the war. The inhabitants of the frontier could not 
soon forget how they had taken their smiling infants out of the cradle, 
and dashed out their brains against the wall — how they had fed and 
harbored the Indian who acted as spies for them, and joined them in 
their expeditions against the whites, and even excelled them in acts of 
cruelty. This being the case, the reader will not be surprised to learn 
that they were treated rather roughly when they fell into the power of 
the heroes of ^76, after the cessation of hostilities. 

The following events occurred probably in '82 or '3, before the 
treaty of peace was ratified between the two nations. 

A notorious Tory, by the name of Joe Westbrook, on his way 
home from the war to Minisink, where his father John Westbrook lived, 
called at Andries* Be\'ier's at Naponoch, and made some inquiries as if 

* The names Andrew and Andriea, as used in this publication, denote the same 
IndivldDal. This is true also of the names Kortrlte, Eortiight, and Contrite. 



64 HISTOBICAL NOTES. 

he were a stranger. It has been well observed, "that there would be 
little chance for detecting hypocrisy, were it not always addicted to 
overact its part;" and a few warm-hearted patriots made suitable prepa- 
rations, and embarked in a wagon in time to reach Minisink early in 
the evening. They looked through the window, and saw the old man 
and his son Joe sitting at the fire, much engaged in conversation. It 
was supposed that Joe was telling of his exploits in the war. They 
surrounded the house, and Jacobus Chambers, a brave and hardy vet- 
eran, went in. Joe went into an adjoining room the moment he heard 
the tap at the door. The old man was asked where his son Joe was. 
to which the old hypocrite replied with an interjection, that "he had 
not seen his son since the war." Chambers told him if he would give 
him a candle, he would show him his son. He said he had no candle. 
Chambei's swore he did not want his candle, for he had one in his 
pocket, which he then lit, and went to the door. The old Tory then 
sung out in Dutch, "Loop, jongen, loop!" (run, boy! run!). He 
started to escape out of the window, but it was well guarded, and he 
cried out, "Yes, dad, but it is full here, too." He was taken to Napo- 
nocK where a council was held over him. Some were for hanging, 
others for tarring and feathering. At last they decided on the latter. 
It is said that he shivered and shook like Belshazzar when he saw the 
hand-writing on the wall of his pallace, and was extremely glad to see 
the tar bucket and feathers come. This was judiciously applied to his 
person, in preference to the paint with which the Tories used to disguise 
themselves. A hog-yoke and a bell were then fastened to his neck, 
from which a rope passed to a man on horseback, by which he was led 
out of town. On being released, he hired a negro in Rochester for 



HISTORIOAL MOTES. 65 

fifty cents to clean him, and returned home. Afterward he was retaken, 
and put into jail in Kingston. 

NO. II. 

TEEATMENT OF THE TOBY VANVLEET, OF NEWTOWN. 

This Tory, it is said, lived back of Newtown, in the town of 
Rochester, He was taken at Minisink, and forwarded by the Captains 
from one military post to another until he came to Capt. Kortright's, at 
Rochester, it appears, without much ceremony; but the old Captain's 
feelings would not permit him to pass his hands without some cere- 
mony suitable to the occasion. He ordered out a few of his company 
with drum and fife. Vanvleet received the marks of attention due to 
his honor. He was tarred and feathered, yoked and belled. A negro 
then went ahead with a rope attached to the yoke, by which he led him 
along to the next station, which was at Millhook. The Rogue's March 
was played, and a few soldiers with charged bayonets marched behind, 
to spur him up occasionally. Sometimes the negro would give the rope 
a jerk, when the bell would tinkle; blending beautifully with the mar- 
tial music. 

NO. III. 

CONTEST BETWEEN THE T0EIE8 AND EEPDBUCANS. AT THE FIE8T TBAININQ 
AFTEE THE WAB. 

The following affray will show the bitter feelings which were still 
cherished by the Tories and Republicans against each other after the 
war. At the militia training in Rochester, several of those who were 
well known to be Tories, attended. The soldiers were indignant at 



66 HISTOBICAL XOTES. 

them, and only wanted the slightest pretence to abuse and insult them. 
They did'nt hesitate to call them Tories to their face. At last, near the 
close of the day, one of the Whigs gave a Tory a kick. This was re- 
turned by a blow. Others fell in on both sides, and a desperate skir- 
mish ensued. At length they were parted, and the Tories bent their 
way to their homes in Newtown. On their way they met a Whig, and 
abused him. He brought the word to the other Whigs, and informed 
them that the Tories were loading their pieces with balls. The Whigs 
instantly loaded also and went in pursuit, and fired on them; but for- 
tunately none were killed. 

This state of feeling gradually wore away, but the old people were 
accustomed, long after, to look with suspicion on all who bore the name 
of men who had been Tories in the War: and even at the present day 
there are old people in whose breasts such prejudices exist. This may 
be natural, but it is decidedly wrong. It is a principle both of divine 
and human law, "that the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father; 
neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son," "but whosoever 
doeth righteously shall be accepted" Ezek. ch. xviii. 



APPENDIX. 



TOPATCOKE. 



This, as before observed, is the Indian name of a remarkable spring 
in the Shawangunk mountain, about one mile from its base. It is 
situated in a small gully or hollow, which extends along the mountain 
towards the southwest, a few rods southwest of the great ravine before 
mentioned, called Louis's Ravine, or Gully. It contains excellent water, 
and is remarkable because it boils up but does not run over. This is 
said to be the signification of the Indian word Topatcoke. It is one 
of the boundaries of the Patent purchased by Joachim Staats, and is 
referred to by many of the old deeds and writings. It undoubtedly has 
a subterraneous outlet. There is a little rivulet which heads in the 
gully some distance southwest of the spring. About a mile south of 
Topatcoke is the famous 

ICE CAVE, 

Which contains abundance of ice at all seasons of the year. The moun- 
tain in that vicinity abounds in awful chasms, which appear to have been 
caused by some convulsion of nature; but of which there is no account, 
verbal or written. Some of those chasms are so narrow that a man 
can step over them; others are from 8 to la feet wide, and extend 
about half a mile up and down the mountain. In some places there are 



winding paths, by which one can descend into those caverns, under 
the projecting rocks, where there are perpetually large masses of ice. 
It is a place of much resort, as a natural curiosity, and as a repository 
of ice in the warm season. In some places the chasms are probably 200 
feet deep, although not more than 3 or 4 feet wide. 



THE HONK FALLS, 

Are also an object of some interest, and are much frequented by visitors 
at Naponoch, and others. They are situated about three quarters of a 
mile north of Naponoch, on the Naponoch Creek. They are said to be 
75 feet in height; and when the river is swollen, they present an aspect 
truly magnificent. 

The scenery around is of the most romantic kind. The craggy rocks 
on each side of the stream extend to a very great height, and those 
along the bed of the stream are wrought into every imaginable variety 
of shapes and forms, by the action of the water, assisted by loose stones 
or gravel, which in working or whirling round by the action of the 
water, have, in some places, worn deep cavities into the solid rock, 
which are truly remarkable. In one place there is a species of stone 
or rock resembling a honey-comb. In the middle of the stream, at the 
top of the Falls, there is a rocky promontory, which divides it into two 
parts, and extends for some distance up the stream. A rainbow can 
always be seen when the sun shines at these Falls. It is also one of 
the great original landmarks, and one which "neighbors will not" easily 
"move." 



69 



THE OLD CHURCH OF WAWASINK. 

This old edifice was erected about one hundred years since, by the 
first settlers, who were mostly from France and Holland, as before 
stated. About four years since, it was abandoned as a place of pub- 
lic worship, and a new and more commodious building erected at Napo- 
noch. It was with great reluctance that the old settlers left the sacred 
spot where their fathers, and their fathers' fathers had worshipped the 
great "I AM," for the past century, and for the enjoyment of which 
sacred privilege their ancestors had sacrificed their estates in a foreign 
land, and endured unparalleled privations and suflferings; all of which 
they might have avoided, by consenting to have "the mark of the Beast 
in their foreheads or their right hands," but they chose rather to die 
than to deny their Saviour. In 1843, on the 12th of June, it was de- 
stroyed by fire. It had become private property, and was used at the 
time for kill-drying boards, from which it took fire. The old stone walls 
are still standing, and although to the thoughtless and inconsiderate 
those old remains are an object of little interest, to the reflecting and 
contemplative minds they open a 'wide field for meditation. As you 
pass the hallowed spot, thoughts crowd thick upon the mind — thoughts 
which it is not easy to express. Our reflections naturally flow in a 
channel corresponding with the character of the object we contem- 
plate; for example, when we think of the broken-down walls of Jeru- 
salem, we think of the stubbornness and grievous backslidings of an- 
cient Israel, which drew down upon them the wrath of God in the 
overthrow of their city and nation. Similar reflections crowd upon the 
mind when we think of Babylon, Nineveh, and other ancient cities now 



70 APPENDIX. 

in ruins. And when we think of the tower of Babel, we are led to 
consider the consummate folly of man, in attempting to evade the judg- 
ments and designs of the Creator and Ruler of the Universe. But the 
reminiscences wheich the object now before us brings to the mind are 
of quite a different chracter. 

First of all we are instinctively led to inquire, what was the motive 
in erecting this edifice? It was no small work to be done by so few — 
(tradition says that it was built by twelve or thirteen individuals.) Tt 
was the same that animated the heart of David, when he said to Nathan 
the prophet — "I dwell in a house of cedars, whilst the ark of God re- 
maineth between curtains." It was erected for the sole purpose of 
worshipping and honoring the great Jehovah. It was the fruit, or effect, 
of that same principle of love to God which constrained them to resist 
all the efforts which were made by the Pope of Rome and his emis- 
saries to compel them to bow down and worship the Beast with seven 
heads and ten horns, "whose name is Blasphemy." It is to that divine 
principle implanted in the heart of man, through the word and spirit of 
God, that we are indebted for all our civil and religious rights and 
privileges, by which we are elevated above every other nation on the 
face of the globe. 

Another reflection is, the solemn exercises that have been con- 
ducted there. There the faithful servants of God have stood up, as it 
were between the living and the dead, warning sinners to repent and 
flee from the wrath to come — there saints have had their times of re- 
freshing from the presence of the Lord — have had fresh supplies of 
grace, enabling them to run the Christian race — there they have united 
in commemorating a Saviour's dying love,— there have been poured 



APPENDIX. 71 

forth the sweet and melodious songs of Zion. Never can the writer 
forget those "old familiar tunes" which he has heard within those 
sacred walls, or the solemn prayers and exhortations that have been 
offered there. 

While to some those solemn exercises have proved a savor of life 
unto life, to others they have proved a savor of death. To some the 
preacher has been "as the voice of one that could play well on an 
instrument;" his words only reached the ear, while their thoughts were 
about their farms, or merchandise, or roving with the eyes of the fool, 
to the ends of the earth. It is a solemn reflection, that however those 
means of grace have been received, they have now ceased for ever; 
as far as this place of worship is concerned the "die is cast" — so far as 
respects the privilege of the means of grace there, the vision is "sealed 
up," for those who enjoyed them, as effectually as if an angel had already 
set one foot on the sea and the other on the land, and sworn by Him 
that sitteth on the throne, that time should be no longer. 

But there is another consideration — the influence exerted there will 
not cease until the end of time; and hence the propriety and justice of 
the great God, in fixing the judgment after that period. The apostle, 
speaking of one who had departed this life, says, "he being dead yet 
speaketh." Thus the influence of the writings and lives of those who 
have been connected in that place will continue to flow on, augmenting 
in its course, from generation to generation, until the end of time. On 
the other hand, the evil consequences resulting from the disobedience 
of others to the commands of God, will continue to the same period. 
We need no better illustration of this point than that which we have 
in the history of the churches in our land. How clearly are the linea- 



72 APPENDIX. 

ments of that little band of Puritans, who embarked in the Mayflower, 
in 1620, and landed at Plymouth, seen, after the lapse of 226 years, in 
the evangelical churches of New England. That stern and rigid piety — 
that inflexible adherence to all the laws and ordinances of God, which 
characterized that little company, has been impressed upon each suc- 
ceeding generation, until the present time, and been incorporated into 
all their institutions. But how greatly have their numbers increased 
as the stream of time rolls on; and who can calculate the influence on 
the immortal destinies of man, which had its origin in that little band 
of Dissenters, and which will continue to flow on, augmenting in its 
course after the manner of geometrical progression, until the end of 
the world? 

The same observations will apply to the Reformed Dutch Church, 
and others in our own land. 

Such are some of the reflections which have often occurred to the 
writer, on passing the uncovered walls of the old church at Wawasink. 
Never, while the purple current courses its way through my veins, will 
I forget that sacred spot.* 

It was contemplated to remove the old pulpit (which tradition af- 
firms was brought from Holland,) to the basement of the new church 
at Naponoch, that it might be preserved as a precious relic of our 
ancestors, and that we might point the rising generation to the marks 
of the Indian tomahawk in its side, which, like the twelve stones which 

• The writer does not wish to be understood as attaching any superstitious Idea of 
sanctity to any spot or article such as Romanists attach to certain places and things; 
but as being sacred only on account of the solemn exercises attended to there and the 
hallowed reminiscences associated with them, in the same sense as the ground where 
Moses stood when he saw the burning bush was "holy ground." 



APPENDIX. 73 

Joshua caused to be set up in Jordan, to show where they lodged the 
first night after crossing, might serve to remind them of the great 
mercy and goodness of God in delivering us from all our enemies and 
giving us peace through our borders. But while we slept it fell before 
the devouring element. The writer hopes by this notice in some de- 
gree to accomphsh the object so unhappily defeated. 

THE OLD CANNON. 

The reader will perhaps smile at my making this the subject of a 
notice. But to one acquainted with its history, it gives rise to some 
interesting reflections calculated to arouse a feeling of patriotism and 
gratitude, entitling it to a notice in the history of this neighborhood. 
It was obtained from the State Arsenal, for the defence of the frontier. 
In 1781, when the Indians burnt Wawasink, it was made the means, in 
a remarkable manner, of deterring the Indians from commencing hos- 
tilities at Naponoch, according to the design of the enemy; and so, 
in all probability, much property and many lives were saved. It has 
been used ever since on the anniversary day of our National Inde- 
pendence, and on other festival occasions. Many an aged patriot will 
recollect the jovial times which he used to have on the hill at Capt. 
Simon Bevier's, in marching round the liberty-pole, while the "star- 
spangled banner" was floating to the breeze, and the loud roar of the 
nine-pounder reverberated along the Shawangunk, and at intervals, the 
old "Taxation,"* or some other patriotic song was sung; bringing 

• As copies of that dd song are rather scarce at the present day, and belleylng It 
to be admirably calculated to arouse and Inspire patriotic feelings, I will here insert it. 



74 APPENDIX. 

vividly to mind the great events in the history of our country, and the 
noble deeds of our venerable sires in the cause of liberty. 

But in the "midst of this laudable emotion," this "feast of reason 
and flow of soul," there was one thing to be regretted. A canker was 
at work at the very vitals of our republic, in whose prosperity they 
were rejoicing; and they were not aware of it. Men were not contented 
with the spirits that flowed from prosperity and health, alone— the in- 
toxicating bowl was freely passed around, and many a giant intellect 
fell a victim to its bewitching influence, and their mortal remains now 
fill a drunkard's grave. Blessed be God, that the eyes of this nation 
have been opened to see its danger, and that so much success has at- 
tended the efforts to expel this fell monster from the land. Had it not 
been for the glorious temperance reformation, our noble republic might 
now have lain by the side of the ancient republics of Greece and Rome, 
buried in undistinguishable ruin; for it is a settled principle that a 
nation of drunkards are incapable of self-government. 



TAXATION OF AMERICA. 



While I relate my story, Americans give ear; 
Of Britain's fading glory you presently shall hear; 
I'll give you a true relation, attend to what I say, 
Concerning the taxation of North America. 

O the cruel lords of Britain who glory in their shame, 
The projects they have lit on they joyfully proclaim; 
'Tis what they're striving after, our rights to take away, 
And rob us of our charter in North America. 

There are two mighty speakers, who rule in Parliament, 
Who always have been seeking some mischief to invent, 
'Twas North, and Bute, his father, this horrid plan did My, 
A mighty tax to gather in North America. 

He searched the gloomy regions of the infernal pit. 
To find among those legions one who excell'd in wit, 
To ask of him assistance, or tell them how they may, 
Subdue without resistance this North America. 

Old Satan, the arch traitor, resolved a voyage to take. 
Who rules sole navigator on the burning lake; 
For the Britannic ocean he launches far away, 
To land he had no notion, in North America. 

He takes his seat in Britain, it was his soul's intent. 
Great George's throne to sit on,, and rule the Parliament, 
His comrades were pursuing a diaboHc way. 
For to complete the ruin of North America. 

He tried the art of magic to bring his schemes about, 
At length the gloomy project he artfully found out; 
The plan was indulged, in a clandestine way, 
But lately was divulged in North America, 



76 TAXATION OF AMEBICA. 

These subtle arch contrivers addressed the British court, 
All those were undersigners, for to observe report — 
There is a pleasant landscape that lieth far away, 
Beyond the wide Atlantic in North America. 

There is a wealthy people, who sojourn in that land. 
Their churches all with steeples most delicately stand; 
Their houses, like the lilies, are painted red and gay; 
They flourish like the gallies in North America. 

Their land with milk and honey, continually doth flow, 
The want for food and money they seldom ever know: 
They heap up gold and silver, they have no debts to pay. 
They spend their time in pleasure in North America. 

On turkeys, fowls and fishes, most frequently they dine, 
With gold and silver dishes, their tables always shine, 
They crown their feasts with butter, they eat, and rise to play. 
In silks their ladies flutter in North America. 

With gold and silver laces, they do themselves adorn. 
The rubies deck their faces, refulgent as the morn! 
Wine sparkles in their glasses, they spend their happy days. 
In merriment and dances in North America. 

Let not our suit ofifend you, when we address your throne, 
O king, this wealthy country and subjects are your own, 
And you their rightful sovereign, they truly must obey. 
You have a right to govern them in North America. 

O king, you've heard the sequel of what we now subscribe. 
Is it not just and equal to tax this wealthy tribe? 
The question being asked, his majesty did say. 
My subjects shall be taxed in North America. 

Invested with a warrant, my publicans shall go. 
The tenth of all their current they surely shall bestow; 
If they indulge rebellion, or from our projects stray, 
I'll send my whole batallion to North America. 



TAXATION OF AMERICA. 77 

I'll rally all my forces by water and by land, 
My light dragoons and horses shall go at my command; 
I'll burn both town and city, with smoke becloud the day, 
I'll show no human pity for North America. 

Go on, my hearty soldiers, you need now fear no iU— 
There's Hurly, Hills, and Roger's, and Johnson will fulfil — 
They tell such ample stories, believe them sure we may, 
That half of them are Tories in North America. 

My gallant ships are ready to hoist you o'er the flood. 
And in my cause be steady, which is supremely good; 
Go ravage^ steal and plunder, and you shall have the prey; 
They quickly will knock under in North America. 

The laws I have enacted, I never will revoke. 
Although they are neglected, my fury to provoke, 
I will forbear to flatter, I'll rule with mighty sway; 
I'll take away the charter from North America. 

O George! you are distracted, by sad experience find; 
The laws you have enacted are of the blackest kind, 
I'll make a short disgression, and tell you by the way. 
We fear not your oppression in North America. 

Our fathers were distressed, while in their native land; 
By tyrants were oppressed, as I do understand; 
For freedom and religion they were resolved to stray, 
And trace the desert regions of North America. 

Heaven was their sole protector while on the roving tide. 
Kind fortune their director, and providence their guide, 
If I am not mistaken, about the first of May, 
This voyage was undertaken for North America. 

To sail they were commanded, about the hour of noon. 
At Plymouth shore they landed, the twenty-first of June; 
The savages were nettled, with fear they fled away, 
And peaceably they settled in North America. 



78 TAXATION OF AMEKICA. 

We are their bold descendants, for liberty we'll fight, 
The name of independence we challenge as our right. 
What heaven has freely given, no one can take away, 
Kind heaven, too, will save us in North America. 

We never will knock under, O George, we do not fear 
The rattling of your thunder, nor lightning of your spear; 
Tho* rebels you declare us, we're strangers to dismay; 
You cannot therefore scare us in North America, 

To what you have commanded, we never will consent; 
Although your troops are landed upon the continent; 
We'll take our swords and muskets, and march in bright array. 
And drive the British rustics from North America. 

We have a bold commander, who fears nor sword nor gun; 
The second Alexander, his name is Washington; 
His men are all collected, and ready for the fray, 
To fight they were directed for North America, 

We have Green, Gates and Putnam, to manage in the field, 
A gallant train of footmen, who had rather die than yield; 
A stately troop of horses train'd in a martial way, 
For augmenting our forces in North America, 

Proud George you are engaged all in a dirty cause, 
A cruel war hath raged repugnant to all laws. 
Go tell the savage nation you're crueller than they. 
To fight your own relations in North America. 

Ten millions you've expended, and twice ten millions more; 
Our riches you intended should pay the mighty score; 
Who now will stand your sponsors, your charges to defray? 
For sure you cannot conquer this North America, 

I'll tell you George, in metre, if you attend awhile, 
We forced your own St, Peter at Sullivan's fair isle; 
At Monmouth too we gained the honor of the day — 
The victory obtained in North America, 



TAXATION OF AMERICA. 79 

Surely we were your betters hard by the Brandywine; 
We laid him fast in fetters, whose name was called Burgoyne, 
We made your horse to tremble with terror and dismay, 
The heroes we resemble in North America. 

Confusion to the Tories, that black infernal name, 
In which Great Britain glories for ever to their shame; 
We'll send each foul revolter to smutty Africa, 
Or noose them in a halter in North America. 

A health to our brave footmen, who handle sword and gun. 
To Green, Gates and Putnam, and conquering Washington; 
Their names be wrote in letters which never shall decay, 
While sun and moon doth glitter in North America. 

Success unto our allies, in Europe and in Spain, 
Who man their ships and gallies, our freedom to maintain, 
May they subdue the rangers of boasting Britannia, 
.And drive them from their anchors in North America. 

Success unto our Congress of the United States, 
Who glory in the conquest of Washington and Gates — 
To all. both land and seamen, who glory in the day 
When we shall all be freemen in North America. 

Success to the legislation that rules with gentle hand. 
To trade and navigation, by water and by land; 
May all with one opinion our wholesome laws obey. 
Throughout this whole dominion in North America. 



CONTENTS. 



Adams. John, Traveled the Old Road.. 159 
Advertisement from the DUter County 

Gazette 62 

B 

Basha's Kill 1°^ 

Bell, Mr., of Accord 63 

Bevler, Conrad, House of, Leuren KlU . . 98 

Bible (The) on the Doctor 65 

Bogardus, Nicholas 29 

Bonnell, Capt. Ja 139 

Border Wars Between New York and 

New Jersey 121 

Brant In the Mlnislnk Country 126 

Breakfast Brook 113 

Brick House l'*2 

Brodhead House ^^ 

Burr, Aaron, and John Vandertyn 28 

c 

Carpenter's Point 133 

Churches, Early, of the Mlnislnk 129 

Church of Rome 108 

Church Notices, Hurley 48 

Clinton, De Witt, Birthplaces of 

70, 83, lis 

Clinton, George, Letter from 106 

Colden, Cadwallader 38 

Conashaugh, Battle of 147 

Council HUl, Near Wurtsboro 104 

Council House of the Indians, Wawarslng 75 

CuddebackvUle 117 

Cure for the Bewitched 34 

D 

Decker, Christopher 135 

Delaware and Hudson Canal 101, 171 

Depue, Benny 75 

Depue House, Accord 60 

Dutch Church, Kingston, Legends of... 24, 28 



EllenvUle 84 

English as She Was Writ 63 

F 

Fantlne Kill Monument 85 

Fits, Cure for 46 

Flatbrookvllle 16» 

French and Indian War 120 

G 

Garden of Eden Located 22 

Ghost Story, a true 33 

Gonsalus, Don Manuel 15, 105 

Gould, Jay, Story of 60 

Gumaer, Peter C 118 

H 

Hardenbergh House, Kerhonkson 68 

Hlne, Philip 73 

Holland Guns 82 

Honk Falls 81 ,. 

Hoornbeek House, Pine Bush 65 'o< 

Hurley S5 

Hurley as the Fathers Spelled It 62 

Hurley Greens, The 52 

Hurley Hotel 40 

I-J 

"Indians, The, or Narratives of Massa- 
cres", etc Appendix 

Indian Mines, Stories of Ill, 119, 120 

Indian Raid on the Mlnislnk 126 

Indians Raid the House of Peter Jan... 100 
Jail Limits Stones, Kingston 30 

K 

Kettle, John, Ghost of 67 

Kings Highway 87 

Kingston 22 



THE OLD MINE ROAD. 



Kingston— Its 250th Anniversary 

Kingston Coffee House and Kingston Ho- 
tel 



Lackawaelj, The Fort at 

Leuren Kill 

Ix)uls Ravine, Napanoch 
Iiucas Avenue, Kingston 



Mamakating Valley 

Marbletown 

Marbletown, The Depot at 

Masonic Lodge— First in Hurley 

MMlbrook 

Mine Holes of Pahaquarry 

Mohonk 

Mombaccus Creek 

Montague, Sussex Co., N. J. ... 
Montanye, Benjamin 



Sandyston, Sussex County, N. J 147 

ScaJps, Price on 73 

Schapanach 149 

Schoonmaker, The First 61 

Schuyler's. Capt. Arent, Journal 12 

Senate House, Hurley... 37, 38, 39, 165, 167 

Senate House, Kingston, Legend of 31 

Shawangunk, Meaning of 59 

ShippeUouk Rocks 135 

Shoemaker, Henry 159 

Sink Holes 56 

Slick Stone 47 

Smith, David M., Strange Disappearance 

of 90 

Spanish Mine, Ellenvllle 85 

Spavin, A Cure for the 47 

Spook Hole, Hurley 36 

Spook Hollow, Montague 145 

Stone Church of Wawarslng 72 

Stone Ridge 58 

John Cleves 149 



N 

Napanoch 81 

Neversink River 117 

Neversink Turnpike Road 30 

Ninety-Nine, Legend of 75 

O— P 

Old Mine Road, The 1 

Page's Brook 113 

Pahaquarry, Warren County, N. J 155 

Plnebush 65 

Port CUnton 118 

Port Jei-vis 126 

Precious Metals, Early Hopes of 2 

Preston, Samuel, Letter on the Minisink 
Settlement 6 

Q-R 

Quick, Tom 135 

Qnlnlan, James Eldrldge, on the Old 

Mine Road 10 

Raymondskill, Battle of 147 

Rochester Town Records 61 

Rome 108 



Saddler's Hell 113 



Tack House, Stone Ridge 58 

Tree, A Notahae Old 57 

Tri State Rock 133 



Van Auken House 134 

Van Benschoten, Rev. Ellas 144 

Van Campen, Abraham 150, 156 

Van Campen, Isaac 150 

Van Campen, Major Moses 156 

Van Dusen, Capt. Jan 165 

Tan Wyck, Dr. Theodore Ill 

w 

Walpack, Sussex County, N. J 149, 154 

Warts, To Cure 46 

Wawarsing 69 

Wawarsiug, Indian Attack on 69, 72, 73 

Westbrook, Johannis 147 

Westbrookville 116 

Wheat, How to Spell 51 

Whetstone 47 

Witches of Hurley 42 

Witch, A, of Minisink 131 

Witch, A, of Wurtsboro 109 



CONTENTS. 



Witch Doctor. To Be Found Only by a 

Seventh Son 44 

Witch Test 42 

Witch Track 46 

Wurtsboro 108, 112 



Y-Z 

Yaugh House Spring Ill 

Zinzendorf, Count Nicholas Von, Narra- 
tive of His Journey 16 



■liiialO 



%> 



'W^ 



•'* .<^ ... <>. ^'•-* A^^ ,. %. '"•• 




^^^^^*' ^'^ 



^>!^'' 

1^^ o 







g^o C«^ 



